busines law

· A sixth business crime that is described in the article is countrywide political loan scandal (and contribution to the subprime mortgage crisis). In this business crime, the major offence was providing misleading information about the dealings of the company to shareholders. Giving of false information usually makes other people incur costs that they wouldn’t have incurred and it is therefore prohibited involving large amounts of fines or jail terms.

Q2

Recommendations to prevent white collar crimes

White collar crimes are on the rise as the world embraces technology to a greater extent. Digital technology has revolutionized many aspects of doing work especially automation of various tasks which were initially done manually by professionals. As employees try to cope with new trends, some of them take their time to master the technology in use and to take a keen note on the loopholes. Once such employees get an opportunity to exploit their employers, they make use of the loopholes in the system either by fraud, conspiracy, embezzlement or reporting of false accounting statements (Jacob, 2017). Such forms of business crimes are hard to deal with but various measures can be put in place to control and shield companies from the extensive negative impact which results from corporate crimes.

· The first recommendation in the prevention of white-collar crimes is ensuring that a company has a way of monitoring internet activity with the organization. The company’s IT infrastructure is in the first place the major source where white-collar crimes start from (Weinstein, 2016). Most employees who engage in business crime start by analysing the possibility of being detected if they proceed to do certain activities. Companies with modern IT infrastructure are able to implement key controls in their networks which are able to alert or flag abnormal activities. This way the administration is able to detect any activities that could be a threat to their information. Since the use of internet and similar other modern ways of handling company information has opened up many loopholes for cyber criminals to infiltrate company documents, businesses should be keen to monitor the activity of their employees who have administrator privileges on their IT systems (Weinstein, 2016). This way, it becomes possible to control and regulate the use of login tokens. After considering all possible ways in which internet may be used as platform for corporate crimes, the company should ensure that all software are up to date, anti-malware applications are running on latest technology, snooping tools are implemented on the network to detect abnormal activity or access of the site by other parties, all data systems use encrypted formats and that only vetted individuals have authority to access key information in the sites (Weinstein, 2016).

· Another way of preventing white collar crimes is making sure the system in a way that is easy to verify. In that case, the company to should have a checks and balances mechanism in place to ensure that verification of financial documents and statements is done both manually and automatically (Jacob, 2017). This way, a company ensure that all statements pass through different people and multiple verification steps which are able to detect and also report abnormalities. White collar crimes have been on the increase due to conspiracy among employees or in cases way only one-person has the authority to handle all contracts, they he or she takes advantage of the system and plans illegal ways of committing a fraud.

· Also preventing white collar crimes is through implementing the inventorying of equipment on regular basis to ensure that the company is able to keep on track various developments that could be of help in preventing crime. The company should also be able to monitor employees on everything they do using video cameras in various locations in the business (Jacob, 2017). In other cases, the company can put in place secret cameras to give them key information which required to make decisions on how to further proceed to prevent crime or to report employees who engage in corporate crimes. Companies should also consider the services of white-collar attorneys to help in providing legal advice on how crimes in the corporate world can be prevented or detected.

Q3

Factors to be considered in white crime sentencing:

White crime sentencing is a complex process which requires consideration of various issues that have been raised during the court proceedings. If a person has been convicted of white-collar crime, then it is important for standard procedure to be followed to either fine them or to sentence them in jail. In most cases, persons convicted of white-collar crimes are sentenced to several years in jail while others are given life imprisonment (Brickey & Taub, 2017).

· The first consideration in the sentencing of persons convicted of white-collar crimes is the severity of the crime committed (Brickey & Taub, 2017). The jury should analyse and teat each white-collar crime independently. The law that has been put in place to apply to such crimes should also be considered in detail. Some types of crimes will call for a jail sentence while others will call for a fine. In some other cases the court may impose a combination of a fine and a jail sentence (Brickey & Taub, 2017). The court should also consider whether those who have been convicted have prior criminal history. That way, they can determine if the person has potential to repeat the same crime. The crime committed is therefore a major factor in determining what penalty is imposed.

· Another factor to consider in deciding the penalty in a white-collar crime is whether the crime raises the question of civil liability. In some white business crimes, a civil case may also come up. Such cases are brought forward by government or people who believe that they have suffered out of the corporate crime committed by the person. Therefore, after analysing such factors, a judge should be able to determine the kind of sentence that fits the crime committed (Brickey & Taub, 2017). People who are involved in white collar crimes also have other issues that they are likely to face out of the crime. The judge should be considerate of the same when deciding on which penalty should be imposed on any form of crime. In most cases, people who have been convicted of corporate crimes, are denied operating licence by various state agencies. They also get their licences revoked in connection with the crime (Brickey & Taub, 2017). Non-citizens who engage in such crimes are also likely to face challenges with immigration compliance processes. The judge may also choose to consider all these factors in issuing a jail penalty for a corporate crime.

A white-collar crime may be committed and result to extensive impact where organizations fall and others become bankrupt. In most cases where false reporting of financial statements is involved, the organization is likely to be crippled in debt. The person responsible for such negative impact should be awarded a penalty that fits such destruction (Brickey & Taub, 2017). The judge should therefore consider the impact of the crime committed. Inmost cases when there is a huge impact of the crime and if it is determined that the person involved benefited in some way from the crime in terms of finance, the judge considers the possibility or repossessing property or freezing accounts to prevent movement of money from such accounts (Brickey & Taub, 2017). This is also a form of punishment and the jury must be careful to ensure that the sentences passed for certain serious corporate crimes are enough to deter other people from engaging in such crimes.

White-collar crime sentencing for the 10 cases found in the article:

The article described in detail ten white collar crimes that were committed in the past and which have either been closed or remain uncertain about the penalty required. The first business crime listed in the article is the Enron collapse. This crime involved illegal accounting procedures which enabled the persons involved to hide billions of dollars of debt. This use of poor financial reporting, accounting loopholes and special purpose entities was responsible for the collapse of the business. Considering the type of crime committed first, we realize that there was false accounting reporting which resulted in lose of billions of monies. This led to collapsing of the business. I believe that the jail sentence to the persons involved should have been longer and they should also have been fined. This is because they benefited finically from the crime and they also caused destructive impacts (Garrett, 2015). Both should have shouldered a jail term not less than 30 years and fines matching the magnitude of the crime as determined by law.

WorldCom accounting scandal was second in the list and it resulted to $ 3.8 billion debt making the company bankrupt. This was caused by fraudulent financial reporting including underreporting of costs and overreporting of revenues. Considering the magnitude if the crime and its impact, I believe that the 25-year jail term was fair but this should also have been accompanied by a fine to recover assets accumulated out of fraud money (Garrett, 2015).

Bernie MadoffPonzi scheme, in which a multi-billion-dollar firm was built through fraud money was a major scandal. 11 federal crimes were involved. The penalty that was given, 150 years in prison and $170 billion in restitution was a major ruling in corporate crime cases. I believe that this penalty though very harsh, was a key milestone in fighting corporate crime. It served to prevent other people with similar intentions from committing the crime.

· In the case of InStock trading scandal the scandal committed was huge and the judge should have considered the fact that $230,000 of company stock was sold and therefore there was need to give a penalty that would deter other people from engaging in such crimes. The fact that the key culprit in this case was released thereafter means that the case was not handled properly and sentencing was not done as per guidelines (Garrett, 2015). I believe that this case should have attracted a sentence not less than 10 years and a fine that matches the magnitude of the financial loss incurred as per law.

· Adelphia collapse involved extensive embezzlement of funds and the people involved were sentenced to 15- and 20-year prison sentences. I believe that these sentences were sufficient for the crime but the same should have been combined with a fine to match the financial gains that the perpetrators had from the fraud (Garrett, 2015).

· On the Tyco accounting scandal where Kozlowski and Swartz were sentenced to 8 years in prison was not properly decided. This is because considering the type and impact of crime committed, the sentence should have been harsher to deter similar crimes. $ 150 million was lost and therefore the crime should have been accompanied by a fine.

· The two convicted persons should have been sentenced to at least 15 years to prevent further embezzlement of funds by other employees. HealthSouth accounting scandal involved defrauding of Medicare and other health care programs. I believe that proper evidence could have been obtained to convict the persons involved. The circumstances of acquittal should have been reassessed.

· Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal involved $85 million in fees fraud and fake wire transfer statements to enable award of a loan. A jail term of 70 months was passed and this should have been higher to deter modern day corporate crime. However, I consider the jail sentence sufficient if there could have been a fine on the same as well.

· Countrywide political loan scandal (and contribution to the subprime mortgage crisis) involved provision of politicians’ mortgage financing at non-competitive rates. This case was settled through a fine of $67.5 million and I believe this was sufficient for the crime committed.

· The last case in the article was the Marcus Schrenker fraud and attempted fake death. This case involved a loss of loss of $250,000 from investors. Failing to give correct information was the crime in this case and it constituted unethical business practice (Cuervo-Cazurra, 2016). Faking a plane crash death attracted 4 years in jail but the judge should have considered that this was done in an attempt to evade being charged of a crime already committed. Therefore, I believe the plane crash faking case should have attracted more years in jail and also the charges on unethical practice in business should have been finalized also.

References

Brickey, K. F., & Taub, J. (2017). Corporate and white-collar crime: cases and

materials. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.

Cuervo-Cazurra, A. (2016). Corruption in international business. Journal of World

Business, 51(1), 35-49.

Garrett, B. L. (2015). The Corporate Criminal as Scapegoat. Virginia Law Review,

1789-1853.

Jacob, R. U. B. (2017). White-collar crime’s forecasting and reduction by means of pre-

employment testing in the penal politics of the state: empirical findings for

moldova and israel. Studia Universitatis Moldaviae-ȘtiințeSociale, (8 (98)).

Smith, K. (2017). White‐Collar Crime. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social

Theory, 1-2.

Weinstein, R. (2016). Cybersecurity: Getting beyond Technical Compliance Gaps. NYUJ Legis. & Pub. Pol'y, 19, 913.