A white-collar crime is a criminal act that is motivated by finance, nonviolent crime and is usually committed by businesses and other government professionals. First coined in 1939 as a criminal offense committed by an individual or persons of respectability and social station, white-collar crimes typically include the kinds of crimes described below. A white-collar crimes lawyer is very busy. The proliferation of computer and cyber crimes has led to changes within the structure of justice departments. Increased paranoia has led to sweeping arrests, and the changes within the law with regard to the penalties for this type of crime became exponentially more severe.
The need for white-collar crimes lawyer who specializes in white-collar cases is in high demand—especially those that have experience defending them on a federal level. Actually, most of the highest-paid white-collar crime lawyers are often asked to travel a lot to different countries to handle these types of cases.
As more countries specialize in the fight against white-collar crime, many are joining multinational trades and are introducing strict domestic anti-corruption regulations. Most international businesses realize that complying with the FCPA or the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has become of greater importance for non-US companies and US companies. Over the past five years, the event of worldwide markets has given even small companies the motivation to list themselves internationally. A lot of companies are subjected to the restrictions of FCPA, including criminal charges.
Federal white-collar crimes are people who commit fraud against the federal government such as welfare abuse or fraudulent contracting. White-collar crimes that cross state lines also fall under the federal category. White-collar crimes committed within the boundaries of one state may rise to the federal level due to several circumstances.
Bank Fraud
Bank fraud is the use of illegal means to collect money, assets, or property owned or held by financial businesses. Bank fraud also occurs when depositors’ money is stolen by someone posing as a bank or other financial organization. Normally, bank fraud applies to any action that employs a scheme as opposed to bank robbery or theft. Due to this difference, bank fraud is generally considered a white-collar crime.
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the crime of wrongfully withholding assets belonging to a different individual when the assets are trusted to be held or used for other purposes. A type of financial crime, a lawyer could embezzle the funds from the clients’ trust accounts and a financial advisor could also embezzle funds from his investors.
In the US, embezzlement may be a statutory offense making the definition of the crime vary from statute to statute. Normally, elements of embezzlement include the fraudulent conversion of the property of another person by a person who has lawful possession of the property.
Computer/Internet Fraud
Computer/Internet Fraud is the use of information technology within the act of committing fraud. This type of crime is typically considered to be a federal white-collar crime. Computer fraud is outlawed by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and there are often substantial prison time and monetary fines.
Credit Card Fraud
Credit Card Fraud may be a broad term for theft and fraud involving payment cards like credit or debit cards. Often related to fraud, credit card fraud is restricted to about .1 percent of all card transactions. However, there have still been huge financial losses because fraudulent transactions have become bigger and larger.
Bribery
Bribery is the act of giving money or gifts that suggest a needed change in the behavior of the recipient. Bribery is the crime defined in Black’s Law Dictionary because of the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item useful in exchange for influencing the actions of a politician or individual responsible for public or duty.
Bankruptcy Fraud
Bankruptcy fraud means concealment of one's assets or destroying documents, fraudulent claims, false declarations, and conflicts of interest. Falsification on bankruptcy forms constitutes perjury. While multiple filings are not, by themselves, criminal, they often violate provisions of bankruptcy law. Bankruptcy fraud may be a crime listed in any state’s criminal legal code.
Extortion
Extortion often called shakedown is a criminal act that takes money, property, or services from an individual or business through coercion. The actual obtainment of property or money isn't required to commit a criminal offense. Making a threat of violence that's made in reference to a promise of future violence is sufficient to commit a criminal offense.
Extortion is often a significant corporate white-collar crime subject to severe punishment, as per white-collar crime sentencing guidelines. That is why you need to hire a white-collar crimes lawyer if you or someone you know is going through this.
