Business Studies

For this week’s discussion, create an initial discussion board prompt and reply to one another’s questions. Choose from the following topics to create your discussion.

White Collar Crimes
Corporate Criminal Liability
Whistleblower Protections
Digital Law
Provide a “mini lecture” on the topic for your classmates. You may use graphics or pictures in your post or record the mini lecture with audio or video. After your lecture is complete, pose a question to the class for discussion.

ANSWER

White Collar Crimes

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, a white-collar crime involves a nonviolent crime to achieve financial profit (Piquero, 2018). The key characteristic of these crimes is deceit, violation of trust, and concealment of key information on certain organizations of a potential investment opportunity. Those who become manipulated are often presented with fake, nonexistent, or exaggerated financial figures, with the promise that their investments would be safe and profitable. Aside from the FBI, other government entities that investigate white-collar crimes include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), state authorities, and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) (Piquero, 2018). As mentioned, white-collar offenses involve vague investment opportunities where the risks are minimized to attract unknowing victims, and any suspicions of a deal ‘too-good-to-be-true minimized.

In recent years, white-collar crimes have been catalyzed by the constant advancement of technology. Quite popular are the Nigerian scams where people set up vague emails and request financial aid, only to be discovered that they are financially stable in the first place. Multiple Ponzi schemes have also been invested on many occasions, luring investors to invest millions of dollars, only for the scheme to disappear, along with their investments (O’Kenny, 2020). The most recent and infamous perpetrator investigated and captured by the FBI is Hash Puppi. He manipulated different organizations that wanted to construct schools for the needy by setting up fake foundations and websites that accepted foreign donations. Court documents indicated that he had cost victims almost $24 million (O’Kenny, 2020). The director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office describes Hush Puppi as the most high-profile money launders in the world.

In conclusion, white-collar crimes are constantly rising as more people continue to fall victim to these luring schemes. The aim of the perpetrators is to gain huge sums of money quickly, through dubious methods, and suddenly disappear.

References

O’Kenny, E. (2020). A stroke of the keyboard and click of the mouse: an anatomy of cyber frauds as a growing component of Illicit Financial Flows. Academics Stand Against Poverty, 1(1), 74-92.

Piquero, N. L. (2018). White-collar crime is crime: Victims hurt just the same. Criminology & Pub. Pol’y, 17, 595.