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The theory of white collar crime
The theory of white collar crime
The theory of white collar crime
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In the Frontline documentary “The Madoff Affair”, it is revealed and painfully evident that the ability to predict, prevent, and prosecute white collar crime is flawed and highly complicated even for the government. Frontline takes a look at the first global Ponzi scheme in history and helps create a better understanding of the illegal conduct that led to the rise and fall of Bernie Madoff and those associated with his empire (Frontline, 2017). When the leadership at the top of any organization is founded on lies, secrecy, and empowered by the leaders within the industry, the corruption is deep and difficult to prosecute. The largest stock market fraud in history reinforces the need for better government regulations, enforcement of the regulations, and oversight, especially in it’s own backyard (Yang, 2014). …show more content…
Lies were the beginning of the end. Neither Madoff or his partners were licensed to be financial advisors for the number of clients they represented and they knew this. The client regulations stated that if you were not licensed then you could have no more than 15 clients and Madoff had 3,200 clients. This one simple violation could have shut down the entire operation if it had been enforced from the start.
The secrecy was another unethical factor that allowed this Ponzi Scheme to continue to grow. This fraudulent component would be agreed upon by Madoff and his clients and the incentivized feeder funds allowed the investors to turn a blind eye. He would not allow his clients to list him as the financial advisor and therefore dodged the surveillance and enforcement of the SEC.
Secrecy and lies continued to pave the way to the collapse of this financial
The Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme is a well-known case and is known as one of the biggest Ponzi scheme’s. In summary the scheme occurred for many reasons that I will some up into 3 points; A lack in competency by regulatory agencies, a lack of regulation, and finally a breach in ethics by Bernie Madoff himself. To explain further, the regulatory agencies like the lawyers and SEC are supposed to prevent schemes such as this one from happening but because they lacked the skills to correctly assess the situation, interpreting the number of tips they had received regarding scheme that had been filed, and to act on those in an efficient manner. One of the tips was made by Harry Markopolos in 2000, of who correctly predicted that Madoff was guilty of fraud. Even after this tip from Markopolos, Madoff was not arrested until 2009. Many family members were also a part of the fraud along with some non-family members such as Frank DiPascali and a team known as the 17th floor team, who helped Madoff carry out his fraud. The idea behind Madoff’s fraud was that he would produce false statements of their investments and when people wanted to pull out their investments, the money wasn’t actually there, which rightfully rose more than a few eyebrows and ultimately led to his arrest.
...y were “earning” that they continued to invest. Most never tried to cash out their earned dividends and had the profits reinvested. There were a few people that did receive their profits and it became known in Madoff’s RICO case that they were all his friends. His friends were able to profit greatly from this scheme. One of his friends Jeffry Picower was able to make $5,771,339,795 from his investments in Madoff’s company. It was well documented in the RICO case that Picower told Madoff how much return on his investment he wanted and then he got that amount. In one particular instance he was able to have over nine hundred and fifty percent returns on his investment. This is an astronomical amount for a return on a stock investment. Picower was one of many believed to have known about the scheme, but most investors did not know they were being scammed.
There’s no real reason as to why Madoff planned to do this scheme, but it seems that he did it, simply because he was in a league of his own and he knew it, which is why it’s possible he went South. The only reason he came forward was because he failed to follow one of the first rules of a Ponzi scheme, he had too many investors in one year and on top of that, he had the global market crisis in 2008, which had opened up the skeletons in his closet. He later began telling his two sons of what he had been doing the last decades, and it wasn’t until Andrew Madoff had told FBI authorities, that his father, Bernie Madoff would be arrested the next day. It wasn’t until 2009 that Madoff pleaded guilty to securities fraud, investment adviser fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, perjury, money laundering and etc. His assets were then sold in order to try and repay all the investors; evidently it wasn’t enough to repay $65million. He was then sentenced to the maximum sentence of 150years in prison. One law that was put in to place was that the SEC now requires all independent public accountants to double check an investment advisor’s numbers. In addition, all investment advisors are subject to surprise exam and custody controls. Also, in corporation with the Dodd Frank Act, whistleblowers can now receive up to 30percent of what the SEC recovers in fines. This will
The political and bureaucratic environment in which the case took place was a complex one. It is obvious that there wasn’t sufficient oversight and regulation from the SEC. The agency not only failed to detect the fraud, but also perpetuated it in some forms. Reports show that the SEC received more than ample information and substantive complaints to warrant a thorough investigation of Madoff and his operations. However, even after conducting three examinations and two investigations, the SEC did not find sufficient evidence to raise a case against him. It was only after his own son testified that Madoff was convicted. Additionally, Madoff knew the policies and politics involved in his defrauding, which only made it easier for him to fool the
Scott Rothstein was a lawyer based in Florida. He used the Ponzi scheme to supply his lavished lifestyle. He persuaded his victims to invest in a constructed settlement with the guarantee of 20% on return within three months of investing. Rothstein is serving a 50 years sentence for $1.4Billion of fraudulent investments and his wife is serving a 1.5 years sentence.
Eventually, his scheme was revealed, and needless to say, it was his sons that turned him in to the authorities. As stated in Biography.com Editors (2017), “the day before, the investor informed his sons that he planned to give out several million dollars in bonuses earlier than scheduled, and they demanded to know where the money was coming from. Madoff then admitted that a branch of his firm was actually an elaborate “Ponzi scheme”. Madoff’s sons reported their father to federal authorities, and the next day Madoff was arrested and charged with securities
Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS) provided market-making services, investment-advisory services, and proprietary trading for clients. Madoff encouraged their clients to invest in its investment-advisory entity, promising the investors they would earn returns up to 10-12% a year. However, Madoff used later-invested money from the investment-advisory entity to pay the returns which he promised to other investors. On December 11, 2008, Madoff was
Bernard Madoff and his ponzi scheme is another great example of greed. Did he actually require these possible billions of dollars that he stole from his investors? Did he just want to be the top dog, the guy with the most stuff when he died? Madoff defrauded his own Synagogue and many of the members. He lived a lavish lifestyle, beautiful homes and furnishings, yachts, jets and still he wanted more. When ...
Jordan Belfort is the notorious 1990’s stockbroker who saw himself earning fifty million dollars a year operating a penny stock boiler room from his Stratton Oakmont, Inc. brokerage firm. Corrupted by drugs, money, and sex he went from being an innocent twenty – two year old on the fringe of a new life to manipulating the system in his infamous “pump and dump” scheme. As a stock swindler, he would motivate his young brokers through insane presentations to rile them up as they defrauded investors with duplicitous stock sales. Toward the end of this debauchery tale he was convicted for securities fraud and money laundering for which he was sentenced to twenty – two months in prison as well as recompensing two – hundred million in restitution to any swindled stock buyers of his brokerage firm (A&E Networks Television). Though his lavish spending and berserk party lifestyle was consumed by excessive greed, he displayed both positive and negative aspects of business communications.
For over a decade this scandal went unseen. Part of the reason could be the way Madoff handled his hedge fund. When the end of the month came around, Madoff made sure to sell all stock and financial tools. This was done so he only had the cash invested to report to the authorities. Another way he got away with this for so long is because his investors were not given an online access.
In 2008 the worst financial crisis since the great depression hit and left many people wondering who should be responsible. Many Americans supported the prosecution of Wall Street. To this day there have still not been any arrests of any executive on Wall Street for the financial collapse. Many analysts point out that greed of executives was one of the many factors in the crisis. I will talk about subprime loans, ill-intent, punishments, and white collar crime.
Madoff used a technique called a Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi, where investors are baited into giving their savings by promising consistent high profits, which obviously doesn’t happen. Bernard L Madoff was caught on December 2008 was charged with 11 counts of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft. He was conducting this scheme as the central operator but still managed to stay hidden for years. This was because he was an unlikely suspect of such a scheme, as he was an active member of the financial world.
Bernie Madoff, along with his wife, founded Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC. The company “attracted investors through word-of-mouth and amassed an impressive client list” (Bernard Maddoff Biography, 2014, p. 1). The company was well-known for its 10% or more reliable returns (Bernard Madoff Biography, 2...
This became the enticement needed to secure more investors. When asked how he managed to stay so profitable, Madoff generally wouldn’t disclose any information. The opportunity to commit such fraud existed on a count of Madoff being the head of his company, and investors being weary of asking too many questions upon fear of being rejected from investing their money in Madoff’s lucrative funds. Concealment thus occurs to prevent detection of inflated assets. “Concealment often takes more effort and time and leaves behind more evidence than the theft of misrepresentation” (Romney, Steinbart 132).
The stock market is an enigma to the average individual, as they cannot fathom or predict what the stock market will do. Due to this lack of knowledge, investors typically rely on a knowledgeable individual who inspires the confidence that they can turn their investments into a profit. This trust allowed Jordan Belfort to convince individuals to buy inferior stocks with the belief that they were going to make a fortune, all while he became wealthy instead. Jordan Belfort, the self-titled “Wolf of Wall Street”, at the helm of Stratton Oakmont was investigated and subsequently indicted with twenty-two counts of securities fraud, stock manipulation, money laundering and obstruction of justice. He went to prison at the age of 36 for defrauding an estimated 100 million dollars from investors through his company (Belfort, 2009). Analyzing his history of offences, how individual and environmental factors influenced his decision-making, and why he desisted from crime following his prison sentence can be explained through rational choice theory.