Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room A white-collar crime by definition is a crime that is committed by individuals of higher status. It is not necessarily a violent crime, but could be depending on the situation. An individual who works in a professional environment, such as the government or corporation tend to take advantage of employees and manipulate them into thinking their practices are legitimate. Some examples, of white-collar crimes include fraud, embezzlement, insider trading, and other various crimes. However, individuals who involve them selves in drugs or stealing someone’s personal possessions commit street crime. For example, it tends to be violent depending on the situation and it usually happens in a public place or …show more content…
Even though Skilling was committing crimes, such as fraud, he was being recognized for his accomplishments. Mr. Skilling was training Andy Fastow to become an accomplished individual not only criminally, but financially as well. Through all that Andy Fastow absorbed from Skilling, he started his criminal behavior. Andy Fastow created bogus companies to keep the companies debt a secret from others. With this entire event going on Fastow took money and implemented it into his personal accounts. When criminals steal money they tend to do it in small amounts, so others do not discover it, but eventually it gets to a point that it gets so out of control that the person committing the crime cannot stop because the rush is high. He felt as if what he was doing was perfectly acceptable because it should have been part of his daily routines. Since criminality is beyond social control, he had no issues committing them. He continued his behavior and Mr. Fastow only developed his ideas for the better. All of the top executives created an environment of intimate business interactions. They believed that deception was justified and “fraud is the reality” (Magnolia Home Entertainment). The final example is of Lou Pai. Lou Pai spent all his money on strippers of all things and he actually ended up divorcing his wife to marry one of the strippers because he had a child with her. Just like any company or organization people receive
White collar crime, as a rule, is less visible than conventional crime. A white collar crime, by definition, is a non-violent act involving deception, typically committed by a business person or public official. lawyershop.com
There was a time when white collar was not actually considered because of laws being particularly targeted for violent crimes. Nevertheless, times have changed for a better outcome dealing with white-collar crime. Even recent years have shown results. As stated by the FBI (2010-2011) During FY 2011, cases pursued by the FBI resulted in 242 indictments/information and 241 convictions of corporate criminals. Numerous cases are pending plea agreements and trials. During FY 2011, the FBI secured $2.4 billion in restitution orders and $16.1 million in fines from corporate criminals. So it is a newly developed crime
What is a White Collar crime? It’s a crime that is committed in high business positions, but it can be
When I say white collar crime a few ideas usually will fill the average persons head. Many will immediately think of Bernie Madoff. This scumbag ran a ponzie scheme spanning multiple decades and made over 60 billion dollars in the process. He was eventually caught and thankfully is spending the rest of his natural born life in prison. Someone might also think of Martha Stewart. Martha, to the surprise of her fans, was much more than that loveable women on the home shopping network or the cooking channel. Martha was caught committing an act called insider trading. According to (The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission), insider trading is when an individual has knowledge not known to the public about what is going to occur within a company
Upon watching the documentary, one could conclude that Enron’s bosses created a culture of pushing limits and taking risks. From the movie, we understand that Jeff Skilling was known to be a nerd as well as others within Enron. It seemed as though Jeff had woken up one day and decided to change himself by wearing contacts instead of glasses, changing is wardrobe, and doing some modeling. As he changed, so did others who worked under him for the fact that they saw Skilling as their hero. With time, it has been noted that Jeff became some sort of tragic figure. He became a man who was radically different than how he portrays himself. It was known that Skilling was a huge risk taker and he often talked about, and then started to manifest in trips that he began to lead with small groups and customers that were often times dangerous. These
Most people, when they hear the word “crime,” think about street crime or violent crime such as murder, rape, theft, or drugs. However, there is another type of crime that has cost people their life savings, investors’ billions of dollars, and has had significant impacts of multiple lives; it is called white collar crime. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines white collar crime as
White-collar crime is defined as the financial motivations of non-violent crimes that are committed by professionals of business and those of the government. In the field of criminology, Edwin Suthelan (1939), a socialist who was the first person to define white-collar crime as a crime that respectable and those people of higher social status commit. The crimes include those associated with fraud, bribery, embezzlement, cybercrime, money laundering, theft of the identity and many more crimes that are nonviolent. For the white collar crimes, the offenses committed should produce some gains financially. The crimes are thereby committed by those persons holding various positions in businesses or organizations, and it is because of this position they can gain access to amounts of huge money that they get from the people like customers with whom they serve. The criminals involved are not caught in activities that are violent, involved in drug issues or illegal activities.
In 1939, American sociologist Edwin Sutherland introduced the phrase “white-collar crime”. White-collar crime is a nonviolent crime committed by a business or large corporations. They are usually scams or frauds to gain wealth in society. The people who are guilty of this crime lie, cheat and steal from investors of their company or business. Even though these crimes are non-violent, they have major impacts on the society. Their companies become non existent and families get destroyed. All of their life savings and savings for their children get taken away, and they become bankrupt. Not only does it affect their families, the investors who believed in their business lose millions or even billions of dollars.
He was the one who hired Skilling after a similar scandal in the 1980s nearly derailed the company, never concerned with ethics, only profits. Lay even sickeningly and psychotically compares his and Enron's criminal behavior, and the criticism of it, with the 9/11 attacks. All three started dumping their stock based on their most inside information months before the company tanked, and this forms the bases of the cases against Skilling and Lay, which are underway. Fastow opted to fink out on his bosses, after they set him up as the fall guy. If this film does not prove, once and for all, that the glorious myth of the free market is a fraud, nothing will.
White Collar Crimes are crimes that are committed by a business and/or government professionals. It's known as a crime committed by a person of social status. White collar crimes include crimes such as bribery, copyright infringement, cybercrime, fraud, forgery, identity theft, money laundering ect. The punishment for white collar crimes can be a combination of community service, fines, imprisonment, probation or restitution. Depending on which state you are in, the punishment may even be the death
White-Collar Crime consists of occupational crime and corporate crime. Occupational crime refers to offences committed against legitimate institutions businesses or government by those with "respectable" social status. It includes the embezzlement of corporate funds, tax evasion, computer crime and expense-account fraud. It is not every day that we hear about white-collar crimes but these non-violent crimes are on the rise to the top. Federal Bureau of Investigation states that USA, for example recorded white collar crimes amounting $300 billion every year (Cornell University, 2010). White-collar crime is relatively a new idea. It has many aspects that are practical for study and further interpretation to clear some of its dark areas. White-Collar Crime was once introduced by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 during his speech in American Sociological Society. The following crimes actually performed are Bribery, Extortion, Insurance, Fraud, Embezzlement, Cybercrime etc. People who participate in these criminal activities are highly powerful and respectful among the society. The following activities include description about White-collar Crime, Investigation of White Collar Crime and The Consequences of committing a White-collar Crime.
In this paper the exciting criminal phenomenon known as white-collar crime will be discussed. Corporate Crime and Computer Crime will be discussed in detail. Crime preventative agencies such as the NCPC (National Crime Prevention Council) will also be researched. White Collar Crime The late Professor Edwin Sutherland coined the term white-collar crime about 1941. Sutherland defined white-collar crime as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" (Siegel 337) White-collar crime includes, by way of example, such acts as promulgating false or misleading advertising, illegal exploitation of employees, mislabeling of goods, violation of weights and measures statutes, conspiring to
One of the major differences between white collar crimes and other types of illegal activities is the fact that these types of offenses do not involve physical violence since they are non-violent
1. The Enron debacle created what one public official reported was a “crisis of confidence” on the part of the public in the accounting profession. List the parties who you believe are most responsible for that crisis. Briefly justify each of your choices.
Ethical behavior, in a general sense, is a definition of moral behavior in regards to lawfulness, societal standards, and things of that nature. In the business world, ethics commonly refer to acceptable and unacceptable business practices within the workplace, and all other related environments. The acceptance of colleges regardless of ethnicity, gender, and beliefs, as well as truthfulness and honesty in relation to finances within the company are examples of ideal ethical business conducts. Unethical business behavior would include manipulating procedures based on bias or discrimination, engaging in activities that promote political gain, as well as blatant fabrication of monetary factors within the company and “can affect