White Collar Crimes

White Collar Crimes

Introduction

Since the onset of industrialization, more sophisticated crimes have arisen. As more people joined the rat race, the crime for financial gain was no longer only violent and wasn’t only linked to people in the lower classes. Being that those who were able to secure well-paying jobs were automatically placed in the middle and upper classes, Sutherland argued that individuals could also commit crimes from all social classes, where business people used the mask of respectability to commit fraud, extort and embezzle funds for their financial gain.

Sutherland’s definition was later on criticized for being plain and non- inclusive, and later on, many definitions from different sociologists and criminologists came up. From my research, I would, therefore, classify white-collar crimes as crimes committed by individuals in the course of their employment, involving deceit and concealment, which violate trust, moral or ethical obligations, and civil, criminal and regulatory laws for the individuals’ financial gain.

The term white-collar crimes thus cover a wide array of crimes. It’s done in a sophisticated manner and may not be easy to detect (Baumeyer, 2013). If detected, it takes a long time to investigate and capture the culprits. In many cases, white-collar crimes are non- violent (Baumeyer, 2013). Unlike kidnapping, murder, and robbery with violence, there is no direct physical harm to the victims as they are done in secrecy. However, the magnitude of these crimes is tremendous and potentially life-ruining, as the victims lose a lot of money.

Examples of white-collar crimes include; money laundering, embezzlement, forgery, tax evasion, insurance fraud, Ponzi schemes, extortion, blackmail, bribery, and fraud(Baumeyer, 2013).  In his definition, Sutherland said that white-collar crimes are committed by respectable people with high social standing. This is partially true as it is possible that already existing millionaires would want more for themselves; however, even people in the lower classes could commit these crimes. Sutherland, in his definition, therefore rules out forgery, blackmail, bribery, extortion, tax evasion, insurance fraud, etc., as low-class individuals can also commit these crimes in their professions.

Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme

Madoff was a well-respected financier who ran one of the world’s most notorious Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme (named after Charles Ponzi) is a fraudulent business model with a pyramid structure where investors invest money and are promised high returns (Yang, 2014). Money from new investors is used to pay old investors. Madoff coned his investors $65 billion, and this scheme wasn’t discovered for years (Yang, 2014).

As mentioned earlier, Madoff was a well-respected financer as he had previously worked with the National Association of Securities Dealers and has also helped launch the Nasdaq stock market (Yang, 2014). He used his respectability as a cover, and he was able to win people’s trust. Some of the elements of white-collar crimes evident in this case include; deceit, concealment, violation of trust, use of sophisticated systems, no use of violence, and difficulty in detection.

Those who invested in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme lost a lot of money when the pyramid finally collapsed. It is to be understood that Madoff had several employees who helped him out with his operations, all of whom lost their jobs when Madoff was discovered and arrested. Even though no one is harmed physically in the process, white collars crimes are motivated by greed, and the consequences to the perpetrators are always dire.

References

Yang (2014). 5 Years Ago, Bernie Madoff Was Sentenced to 150 Years In Prison- Here’s How His Scheme Worked. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/how-bernie-madoffs-ponzi-scheme-worked-2014-7%famp

Baumeyier (2013). What is White Collar Crime? – Definition, Statistics & Examples. Retrieved from https://study,com/academy/lesson/what-is-white-collar-crime-definition-statistics-examples.html