Criminology Chap 12

White Collar and Organized Crime

White-collar crime

A term for non-violent, financially motivated crimes committed by business or government professionals. These crimes are often characterized by deceit, breach of trust, or concealment.

Coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939.

Examples of white collar crimes

public corruption, health care fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, tax evasion, insider trading, bribery, and cybercrime.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

a US law that prohibits the payment of anything of value to foreign officials in order to gain a business advantage

Effects of white collar crime

Financial consequences, erosion of trust, job losses, social consequences, pollution problems, criminal and civil repercussions, and reputation damage.

White collar crime definition

Using a position of power for illegal gain

Corporate crime

occurs when an individual or corporation commits illegal acts on behalf of a business.

Bribery, environmental violations, false claims, corporate fraud, and antitrust violations.

Financial crime term

Any criminal activity that involves money or other financial resources.

Corporate fraud (falsifying financial information, fraudulent trades, insider trading, misuse of corporate property, tax violations)

A type of white-collar crime that involves illegal or unethical actions by a company or its employees that are intended to gain an unfair advantage.

Securities and commodities fraud

Involves deceptive practices in the stock and commodities markets to manipulate financial markets and gain an unfair advantage.

Health-care fraud

a crime that involves intentionally deceiving the health care system to receive illegal benefits or payments. It can be committed by medical providers, patients, or others.

Mortgage fraud

The intentional or knowing misrepresentation of information to obtain a mortgage loan. It can be committed by borrowers or by mortgage industry professionals.

Two main types of mortgage fraud

Property and profit.

Insurance fraud

The act of deceiving an insurance company or agent to obtain money or benefits that you are not entitled to.

Mass-marketing fraud

A scheme that uses mass-communication media – including telephones, the Internet, mass mailings, television, radio, and personal contact – to contact, solicit, and obtain money, funds, or other items of value from multiple victims in one or more jurisdictions.

Common Scams

Foreign Lotteries and Sweepstakes, Nigerian Letter Scams, Credit and Loan Scams, Overpayment Scams, Charity Scams.

Money Laundering

Involves disguising the origins of funds derived from illegal activity to make them appear legitimate. Placement of funds into the financial systems, layers of legitimacy, criminal retrieves the funds which are now legitimate.

Environmental Crimes

An illegal act which directly harms the environment.

Example: illegal mining, pollution crimes, unregulated fishing, illegal logging

Wildlife and Conservation Crimes

illegal activities that involve exploiting wild animals and plants.

Factors which contribute: Consumer demand, technological advances, globalization, regulatory loopholes, weak enforcement, and corruption.

Wildlife and conservation crime examples

Poaching, Trafficking, Illegal processing, Habitat destruction, selling, money laundering, corruption.

Green criminology

Studies crimes and harms that affect the environment, including non-human life and ecosystems. Harms to the environment, humans, and non-humans.

Causes of white-collar crime

Pressure to perform, weak internal controls, corporate culture, lack of accountability, personal motivations, narcissism, rationalization.

Curtailing White-Collar and Corporate Crime

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) passed by congress to protect the public from financial fraud and accounting errors by businesses.

Sherman Act (1890) was passed to regulate interstate commerce and prevent the formation of monopolies, cartels, and trusts. First major attempt to address the use of trusts. Prohibits monopolization, contracts and conspiracies among others.

Clayton Act (1914) seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency (outset/initial).

Securities Act (1933) ensure investors gave financial and other important information about securities that are being sold publicly. Bans use of fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation in the sale of securities.

Securities Exchange Act (1934) forces companies to disclose information that investors would find pertinent to making investment decisions. Regulates the exchanges on which securities are sold.

Organized crime

a criminal enterprise that involves a group of people who work together to commit illegal activities for profit.

Organized crime groups

are criminal enterprises that engage in illegal activities to make a profit. They often use corruption to avoid prosecution, and may be linked by ethnicity, geography, or blood ties

Prohibition

The 18th Amendment, or Volstead Act, prohibited the sale, transportation, and production of alcohol.

Activities of organized crime

drug and human trafficking, gambling, loan sharking, smuggling

Hobbs Act

Federal law that prohibits robbery, extortion, conspiracy to commit either of those crimes if they affect interstate/foreign commerce.

Extortion: Obtaining property from another person by threatening bodily harm, accusation of crime, or disgracing them.

Act was passed in 1946 to combat racketeering in labor-management disputes.

RICO

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act was passed to combat organized crime.

Purpose was to prevent organized crime and racketeering from infiltrating legitimate organizations that operate in interstate commerce.