essay

You are a law enforcement criminal investigator in an Economic Crime Unit. A Mr. James Smith walks

into your office and asks to speak to a detective. He appears to be in his early 60s. After introducing

yourself, you sit down with him and he states that he thinks he is the victim of crime, but he is not sure.

He states that he is involved in a real estate deal with another investor named Richard Dume, who is the

president of a company titled Dume Real Estate Investment Corporation. They met at a business

convention and connected through LinkedIn. The man stated that after a couple of months he was

contacted by Richard Dume and asked if he was interested in purchasing and flipping real estate in the

southern part of the county. The second meeting was held a restaurant and consisted of Mr. Dume, Mr.

Smith, and both of their wives. This meeting is where the agreement was entered to begin the

purchasing process for this real estate deal. The land was going to be zoned for business development,

and if they bought the land they could sell it to those businesses that wished to build on that property.

He was told the deal would take approximately one year from start to finish.

James Smith stated that he provided Mr. Dume five payments of $55,000 over the course of two years

to purchase land as an equal partner. He stated that Mr. Dume said the deal was stalled based on his

additional investors and that zoning was becoming an issue. The transactions were completed through

wire transfers from the Bank of America to Mellon Bank. However, he stated that he told Mr. Dume that

since he had not seen any progress in the real estate deal he was not sending him any more money until

he saw evidence of forward progress. The last time he spoke to Mr. Dume was three months ago. Since

Mr. Smith refused to send more money, it appeared to him that Mr. Dume was not taking Mr. James’s

calls and was never available to see him, even when he stopped by his office.

As a prominent business man in the community with several ties to local business and charities, Mr.

James is upset and also very embarrassed because he got involved in this business transaction. He is also

worried that the perception is that he committed a criminal act if it is alleged that a criminal act was

committed by Mr. Dume using his money. Mr. James stated that the only reason he came in to see you

was because his wife had pleaded with him to do so.