Category: White Collar Crimes

Why is it hard to prosecute white-collar crimes? Generally, it’s hard to prosecute white-collar crimes because the alleged offenders bury their activities deep in confusing transactions.
In 2007, three men were convicted of selling somewhere between 2 and 11 grams of cocaine. According to The National Law Journal, all three men were acquitted of several other charges that implied they were part of a drug conspiracy and committed white collar crimes such as racketeering. Despite the acquittal on those charges, a U.S. District Court judge said he saw “clear evidence” of conspiracy and sentenced each of the men to between 15 and 18 years of prison time.
In March, celebrity couple Teresa and Joe Giudice pleaded guilty to hiding assets from bankruptcy court. According to CNN, the couple, known for their roles on “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” also entered guilty pleas for submitting phony applications in order to secure roughly $5 million in loans for construction and mortgages.
Health care fraud is a very serious offense in Minnesota. It is also a crime. If the Minnesota Department of Human Services (“DHS”) finds fraud, you will be charged with a crime in state or federal court. Examples of fraud by health care providers that the DHS Office of the Inspector General regulates include things like false and fraudulent claims submitted by health care providers, altering claims, overbilling, billing for health care services that weren’t provided, reporting false employment hours, and providing false time sheets. The DHS may audit your healthcare company or respond to a tip provided to them. If your company is audited, the DHS will find any discrepancies in reporting and accounting.
A woman left her job as superintendent of a school system in order to take a similar position with a new system. According to The Courant, her former employer conducted an investigation and found she misspent nearly $9,000, using district funds in the form of a board of education credit card to purchase items to send to her children living in Minnesota and Maryland. State police charged her with first-degree larceny due to the misappropriation of money, and she has resigned from her new position and awaits trial.
From 1997 to 2001, a man served as the chief financial officer of a popular anti-virus software company. According to the Washington Legal Foundation, federal prosecutors alleged that during his tenure, the company violated a number of accounting principles.