White Collar Crime: Cases

Posted by Winnie Melda on October 12th, 2018

White collar crimes are offenses committed by individuals who take advantage of the economic, social, political and technological power they have for corporate or personal gains. White collar crimes are difficult to detect compared to other crimes because they occur in secret and focus on engaging a few number of high power and highly connected persons. White collar crimes are unique because they emphasize the use of deceit rather than force or violence. Connected persons can use their power and trust to manipulate or have favors done according to their wishes. For instance, public officials can solicit for favors, bribes, or fix prices to suit their preference. Crimes such as fraud, perjury, tax evasion/ manipulation are excellent examples of white collar crimes.

Case One

Pitt, D. (2016). Top Ron Paul aides avoid prison for 2012 campaigns violations. New Jersey Herald. September 21, 2016.  White Collar Crime

The News article covers the case of Jesses Benton and John Tate, two top aides of Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential bid. The two were found guilty of involvement in a scheme to cover up payments to a former IOWA state senator. The former senator received money in exchange of endorsing Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. The case is an example of a white collar crime because Benton and Tate used their positions of authority to conspire and create false campaign contribution reports. Benton and Tate took advantage of a system designed to encourage transparency of campaign finances and manipulated it in an attempt to clean their illegal acts (Pitt, 2016). The victim is the general public who is bound to lose the trust of reports of political campaigns and reports over their financing. The crime is a criminal offense as it involved the violation of federal statues on the transparency of money used for political campaigns.  Judge John Harvey sentenced the two to two years probation and six months of home confinement, community services and a fine of ,000. Personally, I believe the sentencing was quite light. Instead, the judges should have headed to the prosecutor’s request for a minimum of two years jail term. The tow abused their positions by paying the former IOWA senator to support their presidential candidate. Furthermore, the two attempted to cover up their acts by falsification of financial reports. The sentencing awarded is light as Bennet and Tate will continue to enjoy their lives, albeit with the constraints of movement. The fine awarded is also too little as the individuals are person with power and wealth and will pay the amount without significant financial difficulties

Case Two

Dugan, K. (2016). Wells Fargo CEO to face Senate scrutiny for the fraud case. New York Post. September 20, 2016. http://nypost.com/2016/09/20/wells-fargo-ceo-to-face-senate-scrutiny-for-fraud-case/

The New York Post highlights the case of John Stumpf, the CEO of Wells Fargo. Stumpf is facing US Senators over the accusation that he created millions of sham bank accounts and credit cards.  The victims are Wells Fargo customers whose funds would transfer to the created accounts.  Stumpf’s case is an example of a white collar crime that involves fraud. The report indicates that Stumpf intends to apologize for creating the sham accounts but deny his intent to steal from Wells Fargo customers. Stumpf’s case is a criminal offense as Wells Fargo engages in suspicious and unethical financial practices. Wells Fargo entered into a 5 million and .6 million settlement with three government agencies to open two million fake bank accounts and over half a million fake credit card accounts respectively. Investigations of Wells Fargo, the CEO and associated banks are still ongoing. (Dugan, 2016). Stumpf’s case is an example of how people can abuse their positions to commit white collar crimes.  Stumpf appears to have had the intention to scam Wells Fargo customers. I believe intensive investigations must be done on Wells Fargo Company as there may be more people involved. An investigation of Wells Fargo’s financial reports may also shed light on the movement of money through the company. Suspicious financial activities such as awards of large amounts of bonuses to the management team should also raise the alarm and prompt investigations.  Embezzlement of company funds is a serious white collar crime, and if found guilty, Stumpf and all other persons involved must face the law. Fraud and embezzlement of public funds result in loss of revenues to the government.  It can also lead to unemployment in case the company involved collapses.

Case Three

Schneider, R., Krisher, T., Biesecker, M. (2016). More charges likely as VW engineer details emissions scandal. New Jersey Herald. September, 9, 2016.

Volkswagen is on the verge of facing a major white collar crime lawsuit about their scheme to cheat on their emissions tests. Investigators have been investigating the company for a while, and the revelation that Volkswagen has been engaging in cheating on emission tests is a breakthrough. Employee James Liang, a Volkswagen engineer, agreed to reveal Volkswagen illegal activities in exchange for a leniency. The case is still under investigations as investigators believe more employees will come forwards with the names involved in the scheme. The perpetrator of the criminal offense is Volkswagen via its employees in America and Germany. The victim is the US government duped into believing that the Volkswagen vehicles are tested and have limited pollution.  Further, tests confirmed that certain Volkswagen models emit higher levels of pollutants that expected (Schneider, Krisher, Biesecker, 2016).  Investigations are still ongoing, and no court case has begun yet.  Investigators need to dig deeper to find all parties involved in the case.  The coming forward of my Liang is proof that there are more people involved in the scheme than anticipated. Volkswagen has been engaging in fraudulent business practice by tampering with the emissions tests. They have been selling vehicles to American under the false presentation that the vehicles emit minimal pollutants. The violation of emission laws should attract hefty fines for companies involved.  Persons directly involved in the offense must also face the law and possible jail terms. Falsification of emission reports means that the Volkswagen model of vehicles contributes to global warming, a problem that nations across the world have been trying to resolve. Global warming depletes the ozone layer thus exposing Earth to harmful rays resulting to an increase of diseases such as cancer.

Conclusion

White collar crimes are predominant in society than imagined.  The different from other forms of violent crimes is that white collar crimes are not as obvious. Therefore, it is difficult to identify a white collar crime unless and an individual is aware of its characteristics. White-collar crimes cost the society regarding the loss of employment in case of collapse. Money diverts to a few individuals who benefit from the crime rather than a wide population. White collar crimes can also cause non-monetary damages including the destruction of the environment, exposure to health risks and fatalities. The concealed nature of white collar crimes calls for intricate investigations and increased transparency so as to eliminate the practice.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in nursing research papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order for article critique writing services.