Category: White Collar Crime

The financial crisis caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, which led to home foreclosures. Public outcries demanded the bankers responsible for the crisis be held responsible. Since then, the Justice Department has only convicted one high-level banker. This may be because the Justice Department’s efforts to charge financial criminals have failed. Dewey & LeBoef Mistrial The Dewey & LeBoef trial spent four months in the courtroom, followed by 22 days of deliberation. The complexities of the Dewey & LeBoef case overwhelmed the jurors to the point that they could not reach a verdict. Raising concerns that financial crime has reached… Read More

Federal prosecutions of white-collar crimes are down by 29 percent from just five years ago and have hit a 20-year low, according to a report based on Justice Department records. Since the Clinton administration, prosecutions have declined by more than 36 percent, with a brief increase following the financial crisis of 2008, International Business Times reports. In analyzing thousands of Justice Department documents, researchers at Syracuse University found that the federal government prosecuted 5,173 cases of white-collar crime during the first nine months of 2015. That number represents a decrease of about 4,000 cases from 10 years ago, according to The National Law Review.… Read More

Criminal justice in the US appears to be flawed due to overcrowded prisons and the language of laws, reports Jacob Shamsian. More than two decades have passed since Bill Clinton signed the 1994 Violent Crime Control Act in an attempt to curtail criminal offenses, asserts NPR.ORG. However, Thea Johnson and Mark Osler have authored a new paper on the rationale behind reducing drug sentencing. Where Is the Problem? Today’s punishments for drug-related offenses rely on the quantity of drugs. For example, punishments are given on the basis of weight of the substance. In many cases, the offender may only be tied to… Read More

Strategies that were once reserved to gather evidence on drug rings are now being employed to expose those individuals and organizations committing fraud and hiding assets. According to a recent Forbes article, recent federal agency cases have used wiretaps, informants and even undercover sting operations to provide evidence on key individuals. A case that targeted Steven Zinnel in the Eastern District of California shows the extent that federal agents are willing to go in order to build a case against those breaking white collar crime laws. It Begins with Bankruptcy and Divorce Federal authorities were given information from a third party that… Read More

California attorneys recently gathered together for a round table series on white-collar defense. The roundtable was moderated by California Lawyer and reported by Cherree P. Peterson of Barkley Court Reporters. Thanks to the February 2015 publication source, California Lawyer, below are a few of the highlights from this very informative discussion on criminal law in Los Angeles. Highlights from the California Lawyer 2015 Round Table Series In 2014 there was a much-publicized white-collar incident, where two hedge fund managers had their insider trading convictions overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in U.S. v. Newman, No.… Read More

A former city manager, his assistant, the city’s mayor, and a city councilman from Bell have been ordered to stand trial on a variety of charges related to taking public funds, according to My Fox LA. The individuals have been charged with over 50 counts of misappropriation of public funds, conflict of interest, and falsification of public records. Prosecutors claim that the city officials legally inflated their salaries and then falsified public records to hide those salaries. The city manager was found to have a salary and compensation package of $1.5 million. In order to pay those salaries, prosecutors allege,… Read More

For the first time, companies are reporting they are losing more due to the electronic theft of data than from a physical stealing of assets, according to Reuters. A poll of over 800 senior executives showed that electronic theft is usually done by a company’s own employees. Fears over data theft are preventing many companies from expanding internationally. Businesses lost $1.7 million per billion dollars of sales to fraud. China is the emerging market with the highest level of fraud. Ninety-eight percent of businesses in China are affected by fraud. Colombia has 94 percent of its businesses affected and 90… Read More

While white collar crimes may not be as widely publicized as other types of illegal activity, the repercussions can be very serious. According to claimsjounal.com, a Huntington Park insurance agent faces one felony count of grand theft after she allegedly used a homeowner’s insurance premium payment for her own personal use. Reportedly, the woman provided the homeowner with a quote for homeowners insurance, issued the homeowner a counterfeit insurance certificate, and received automatic payment checks from the homeowner in the amount of $823.00 over the course of two years. The California Department of Insurance (CDI) received a complaint from the… Read More

The Press Enterprise, pe.com, recently ran an article that talked about a pastor that has been accused of embezzlement and money laundering. The Compton-area pastor pled not guilty to both counts. The Double Rock Baptist Church has accused the former pastor of diverting funds from church bank accounts and using the funds for personal projects in his Corona home. If convicted, the pastor could face more than seven years in prison. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating the preacher for some time now, even searching his home in 2008 and confiscating financial records that may have aided… Read More

A latimes.com report from May 13, 2009 stated that an investigation into the offices of former assessor Bill Postmus has prompted the San Bernardino County Supervisors to file suit against Postmus and five of his co-workers in an attempt to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars. The report was done by former federal prosecutor John Hueston who gained fame for prosecuting Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling of Enron. The investigation revealed that crime, fraud, and drug use were a common occurrence in Postmus’s office. In addition, the 30 page document states that people not qualified for the job were hired… Read More