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literature review on white collar fraud
case study of bernie madoff white collar crime
case study of bernie madoff white collar crime
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Recommended: literature review on white collar fraud
I. INTRODUCTION
Shirley Lee was getting ready to retire when she found out, that her life’s savings was gone. Shirley and many from her community invested more than 90 million dollars into James Powell and Calwell Investment Company. The victims were told that their money would be invested in real estate however; their money was transferred to Calwell and Powell’s personal account, where they used the money on their families, vacations, and home re-modeling. The Ponzi scheme soon collapsed, Calwell passed away before ever going to trial, while Powell pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to only ten years in federal prison. People whom commit these types of white-collar crimes need be more rigorously perused and punished.
Ten years seem like a small punishment for all the damage Powel caused, and all the lives that were ruined. However, this is the normality, many schemers across the country, who are caught committing similar crimes get the same punishments. Shirley Lee can no longer retire, she lost all her life savings, and she will probably lose her home too. There are many more stories like Shirley Lee; many of them never see their perpetrator go to jail.
White-collar crimes like what happened to Shirley Lee are prevalent in today’s society. Many view white-collar crime as less threatening than typical blue-collar crime (i.e. robberies). Both crimes however, affect society in a negative way. White-collar crimes cause more direct financial harm than blue-collar crimes. Blue-collar criminals cause more physical harm and for that reason are often perused and punished more rigorously. Both crimes have significant emotional implications and should both be treated and prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law. The emotio...
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...of Civil RICO, 30 Harv. J. On Legis. 2.
Levi, M. (2012, March). Financial Crimes and the Criminalization Process. Nathanson Centre on Transnational Humor Rights, Crime, and Security. Lecture conducted from York University, Toronto, Canada.
Lewis, M. (2008). White Collar Crime, Preparing for Enhanced Enforcement. Philadelphia: Deloitte Forensic Center. Retrieved http://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/ML_Deloitte_WhiteCollar_WhitePaper_Enhanced_Enforcement.pdf
Reimen, J. Leighton, P. (2012). The Rich get Richer and The Poor go to Prison: Ideology, class, and Criminal Justice. Boston: Pearson.
Sanders, M. (1987). WNET & Films for the Humanities. Crime in the suites. Princeton, New Jersey: Films for the Humanities & Sciences.
Sherman, M. (2001). White-collar crime. Washington, D.C.: Federal Judicial Center
Sutherland, E.H. (1949). White Collar Crime. New York: Dryden Press.
The news article that I decided to do my assignment on is about a bank manager, Debra Anne Chapin, that embezzled 2 million dollars from a bank. The news article’s title is, “Former manager jailed for cheating bank out of $2M; Woman used cash to pay bills, gamble and feed her cocaine habit.” The crime took place in Calgary between June 1, 2006 and June, 30 2008. This embezzlement is a classic case of white collar crime and demonstrates numerous criminological theories.
1. Reiman explains that the idea that white collar crime is taken less seriously is because it protects the elite classes. For example, if the public believes they should fear the poor more than the rich, the rich can commit more crimes and go unnoticed because the population is focused on the poor Reiman explains that that the way crime is explained does not exactly fit what we think crime is. He explains that the notion that white-collar crime being harmless is based on the idea that white collar crimes do not end in injury or death is false because more people’s lives are put at risk than “lower class” crimes. Reinman thinks it is necessary to re- educate the public on white-collar crimes for economic
Professor and Director of the Distance Learning Masters Program at The University of Cincinnati, Michael L. Benson has his Ph. D. in Sociology and is the author of "Denying the Guilty Mind: Accounting for Involvement in White-Collar Crime." In a classic study based on interviews with 30 convicted white-collar offenders all men, Benson examines the excuses and justifications used by White-Collar criminals to not only explain their involvement in the crime but also claim their innocence. It focuses mainly on the techniques that are used to deny they did anything wrong in categories separated by antitrust violators, tax violators, violations of financial trust and those committing fraud. Antitrust Violators focused on the everyday character and historical continuity of their offenses. They claimed to be following es...
Pollock, J. M. (2012). Crime and justice in America: An introduction to criminal justice (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Skellinton, R. (2009) The whiter the collar and the higher your status, the more the crime will pay [Online]. Available at: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/the-law/criminology/the-whiter-the-collar-and-the-higher-your-status-the-more-the-crime-will-pay
Peterson, R, Krivo, L, & Hagan, J. (2006). The many colors of crime. NY: New York University Press.
The Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme is a well-known case and is known as one of the biggest Ponzi scheme’s. In summary the scheme occurred for many reasons that I will some up into 3 points; A lack in competency by regulatory agencies, a lack of regulation, and finally a breach in ethics by Bernie Madoff himself. To explain further, the regulatory agencies like the lawyers and SEC are supposed to prevent schemes such as this one from happening but because they lacked the skills to correctly assess the situation, interpreting the number of tips they had received regarding scheme that had been filed, and to act on those in an efficient manner. One of the tips was made by Harry Markopolos in 2000, of who correctly predicted that Madoff was guilty of fraud. Even after this tip from Markopolos, Madoff was not arrested until 2009. Many family members were also a part of the fraud along with some non-family members such as Frank DiPascali and a team known as the 17th floor team, who helped Madoff carry out his fraud. The idea behind Madoff’s fraud was that he would produce false statements of their investments and when people wanted to pull out their investments, the money wasn’t actually there, which rightfully rose more than a few eyebrows and ultimately led to his arrest.
In modern times, society is still burdened by individuals seeking to get rich quick. Names such as Marty Frankel and Robert Rooney, with their modern form of the Ponzi scheme, have appeared in the news. Although modern con-artists may enjoy the short success Ponzi did, none may ever possess the charm, the demeanor, or the ability to touch the hearts of individuals intended to be swindled.
white-collar crime” (Shapiro, S. P.). It is no surprise to anyone that positions of trust regularly decentralize to corporations, occupations, and “white-collar” individuals. Nevertheless, the concept of “white-collar crime” involves a false relationship between role-specific norms and the characteristics of those who typically occupy these roles. Most of the time, it is the offender that is looked at more than the crime itself and assumptions about the individuals automatically come into play. It has be to acknowledged that “ class or organizational position are consequential and play a more complex role in creating opportunities for wrongdoing and in shaping and frustrating the social control process than traditional stereotypes have allowed” (Shapiro, S. P.). The opportunities to partake in white-collar crime and violate the trust in which ones position carries are more dependent upon the individuals place in society, not just the work place. The ways in which white-collar criminals establish and exploit trust are an important factor in truly exploring and defining the concept of white-collar crime.
White-collar crime is the financially motivated illegal acts that are committed by the middle and upper class through their legitimate business or government activities. This form of crime was first coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939 as “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation.” (Linden, 2016). Crime has often been associated with the lower class due to economic reasons. However, Sutherland stressed that the Criminal Justice System needed to acknowledge illegal business activity as crime due to the repercussions they caused and the damage they can cause to society (Linden, 2016). Crime was prevalently thought to only be
White collar and corporate crimes are crimes that many people do not associate with criminal activity. Yet the cost to the country due to corporate and white collar crime far exceeds that of “street” crime and benefit fraud. White collar and corporate crimes refer to crimes that take place within a business or institution and include everything from Tax fraud to health and safety breaches.
White collar crime is viewed as non-violent and treated differently than other types of crimes; some that are even violent in nature. In general, personal and public perception can vary from one individual to another. “A recent survey conducted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NWCCC) confirm that the public considers certain white collar crimes as more serious than some street crimes, according to Drs. Marilyn Price and Donna Norris” (Perri, J.D., CFE, CPA, 2011, p. 23). Even though white collar crimes do not seem a violent as someone that commits murder; there is still major damage done. For example, a fraud victim goes through a lot of hardship. They can be harassed, have their identity stolen and lose everything. This in many cases can be looked at as a severe crime. Valuables taken during a burglary can be replaced easily, but someone’s identity and livelihood cannot be given back. Most white...
White collar crimes do not garner as much media attention as that of violent crimes (Trahan, Marquart, & Mullings 2005). This is an odd fact because white collar crimes cost society much more than violent crimes do (Messner & Rosenfeld 2007). While there are many different definitions for white collar crime, Schoepfer and Piquero describe it as a nonphysical crime that is used to either obtain goods or to prevent goods from being taken (2006). People who commit these crimes are looking for personal or some sort of organizational gain and are being pressured to be economically successful from the idea of the American dream. The authors suggest that there are two types of people who commit crimes, those who have an immense desire for control and those who fear losing all they have worked hard for (Schopfer & Piquero 2006). Both groups have different reasons for turning to crime, but both groups commit the crime to benefit themselves. It was found that higher levels of high school drop outs were directly correlated to levels of embezzlement in white collar crime (2006). Because they are drop outs, they are less likely to be successful legitimately and turn to crime more often than their graduate
The foundation of our country, the keystone to our democratic system, is the integrity of social institutions that we not only assume we can trust but have come to rely on for most aspects in our daily lives. The integrity of these social institutions can only be achieved through building blocks such as internal controls and independent, verifiable information. White collar criminals build a sense of false integrity around them in order to gain the trust of their victims, ranging from the young to the very old. Friedrich’s (2010) Trusted Criminals defines the foundation to white collar crime, the level of trust we have for those in power. We trust those in charge, those with power, and those who represent the integrity of our social institutions.
Champion, D 2011, ‘White-collar crimes and organizational offending: An integral approach’, International Journal of Business, Humanities, and Technology, vol. 1 no. 3, pp. 34-35.