1. RUNNING HEADER: The Greatest Threat to Society<br />The Greatest Threat to Society: White Collar Crime<br />Elizabeth Hall<br />Kaplan University<br />Criminology II CJ302 -01<br />Ana Moore<br />http://flatrock.org.nz/forest_related/historical_news/assets/white_collar_crime.jpg picture reference.April 20, 2010<br />The Greatest Threat to Society: White Collar Crime<br />To consider the state of the America today, of the three types of crime, violent, white- collar, and organized, the one that stands out as the greatest threat to society by far would be white-collar crime. This crime is the most dangerous to our way of life because it affects the most people, and often happens with the victim none the wiser until much later after the crime occurs. There are three classifications of white-collar crime: forgery/counterfeiting, fraud, and embezzlement (NW3C, 2010). Of the three types, the worst presently is embezzlement, followed by fraud and counterfeiting coming in last when considering the effect these on our society. In the year 2010, due to the decisions made concerning how to fix the economy by our government the mortgage crisis has debilitated our whole financial world, fraud in business costs consumers hundreds of thousands daily, and hurts everyone of all classes and races, while forgery/counterfeiting crimes are affecting everything from foreign relations to trade policies. The data from the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) compiled from the uniform crime report shows embezzlement, fraud, and forgery/counterfeiting trends to be as follows for , the ten year span of 1998-2007:<br />Type of crimeYear# arrests% change % change under 18% change 18 and upEmbezzlement19981058530.110.731.6200715137Fraud1998220262-30.8-32.5-30.72007152465Forgery/Cft.199870678-14.4-61.9-11.2200760531<br />(NW3C, 2010)<br />Embezzlement <br />Embezzlement is the taking of another’s possessions, given to them for protection, unlawfully for the criminal’s own personal gain. (Siegel, 2010)<br />Anyone living in the world today in a country with modern technology is aware of how the mortgage crisis was the factor in toppling the United State’s economy, and how the state of the economy in our country is affecting the economies of the rest of the world. From the amount of bailouts used to the methods of tracking the money used for the bailouts, due to the mortgage crisis coupled with the NAFTA disaster, we are in an economic tailspin, with new things still coming to light, years after the crisis started.<br />On April 8, 2010, Crime Report USA News (2006-2010) reported that Garry Souffrant, and his wife Yvonne were sentenced to 240, and 54 months. This is in response to their 2009 trial in which they were charged with “46 counts, including conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, conspiracy to commit drug money laundering, mail fraud, making false statements to mortgage lenders, bank fraud, bank theft, and receipt of stolen bank funds (Crime Report, 2006-2010)”. They used their real estate business to accomplish this crime laundering millions in drug money, and acted as “straw buyers” for the dealers, allowing them to use proceeds from their illicit sales, to buy property. This is just one good example of what is becoming known about the mortgage crisis, but many more people, and firms such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG, and others are involved in committing these types of embezzlements or collaborating with dishonest prime and sub-prime lenders. The motivation for these crimes is caused by greed.<br />Fraud<br />Fraud is defined by lying or altering a material fact in order to obtain money or possessions from a targeted victim. (Siegel, 2010)<br />When businesses commit fraud, the result is a crime that affects all consumers regardless of race, creed, origin, or nationality. A good example of this type of crime would be the arrest and indictment of SK Foods, a major tomato product producer, CEO”, Frederick Scott Salyer. He “is charged with 20 counts of mail and wire fraud in connection with his direction of various schemes to defraud SK Foods’ corporate customers through bribery and food misbranding and adulteration. (Crime Report, 2006-2010)”<br />This particular case involved bribing purchasing managers to make sure that they bought SK Food’s product, even though they were marking the price up, sending out outdated food, and moldy food, not meeting specifications because of this, falsifying documents, stealing competitor’s reports through bribery, and falsifying dates on the products. This crime was committed over a 10-year span, and cost the consumers millions in price hiking schemes, the company’s sales broker admitted to “racketeering, bid rigging, and contract allocation conspiracies, among other charges. (Crime Report, 2006-2010)”<br />SK Food’s vice president admitted to participation in “honest services fraud” along with introducing misbranded food for public consumption. It is these kinds of crimes that denote mistrust between manufacturers and consumers, and costs the Food and Drug administration money for testing, investigation, and time that could be better spent on other concerns.<br /> <br />Forgery/Counterfeiting<br />Forgers and counterfeiters commit their crimes by altering, recreating, or misrepresenting themselves by signing documents with falsified signatures, such as writing bad checks, recreating a priceless work of art, and selling it as the original, or falsifying documents of any kind for some kind of personal gain.<br />A good example of this crime affecting everything from foreign policy to trade agreements would be the five Blackwater Executives indicted for conspiring to purchase and distribute firearms, falsifying ATF reports, which is the part that puts this crime in the forgery category, unlawful possession of certain firearms. This includes automatic weapons, and being in possession of firearms that have not been registered. The way that this affects our foreign policy, and our trade agreements, is that other countries that already think poorly of our way of life, are watching how we handle ourselves during this time when all of this fighting is going on globally. Scandals like this one cause us to lose respect from other countries, which poses a problem when it comes to dealing with foreign leaders.<br />In conclusion, while all three types of crime- violent, white-collar crime and organized crime are all problems to society, the white-collar crime is more dangerous than the rest simply because it of the scope of problems it causes, and or worsens affects the most people in our society regardless of race, creed, sex, or nationality.<br />References:<br />Crime Reports USA News, (2006-2010) Five Blackwater Employees Indicted. Retrieved From <br /> The World Wide Web April 20, 2010. http://www.crimereportusa.com/cru/2010/4/16/five-<br /> blackwater-employees-indicted.html<br />Crime Reports USA News, (2006-2010).SK Foods LP Former Owner and CEO Arrested at JFK. Retrieved From The World Wide Web April 20, 2010. http://www.crimereportusa.com/display/Search?searchQuery=tomato&moduleId=5250214 <br />Crime Reports USA News, (2006-2010) Davies Employees Sentenced in Their Roles in Drug Money Laundering and Mortgage Fraud Conspiracy. Retrieved From The World Wide Web April 20, 2010. http://www.crimereportusa.com/cru/2010/4/8/davie-residents-sentenced-for-their-roles-in-drug-money-laun.html<br />NW3C, (2010). Economic and High Tech Crime Papers, Publications, & Reports: Reports: White Wide Collar Crime Statistics. National White Collar Crime Center. Retrieved From the World Wide Web April 20, 2010. http://www.nw3c.org/research/site_files.cfm?mode=r<br />Siegel, L.J. (2010). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, and Typologies. Tenth Edition. Belmont: <br /> Wadsworth Cengage Learning.<br />