Our nation is obsessed with violent crime. Every day major television stations and stream services air programs that explore (and sometimes glorify) people murdering each other in cold blood.
White-collar crime, on the other hand, gets far less attention. People shuffling money fraudulently between bank accounts is hardly the stuff of a thriller action movie.
White-collar crime, though, is far more prevalent and damaging than you might think. It is something that infects many organizations, causing diffuse harm to the rest of society in ways that are often difficult to see.
The criminal justice system traditionally focused on providing reparations to the victims of crime – people who had suffered directly at the hands of a criminal, either physically or because of theft. But with the growth of complex organizations, such as multinational businesses, the form that crime takes has changed. When people in a company commit fraudulent actions, it is not always clear who sufferers the most or even who the real victims of the schemes are. It’s all shrouded in mystery.
Then there’s the fact that trying to understand white-collar crime is a challenge. Schemes tend to involve complex financial shenanigans between multiple people to extort money from the system. It is also often challenging to work out precisely who is responsible when there are multiple layers of people involved. Often senior management is unaware of what is going on lower down in their organizations, meaning that it is not always possible to hold executives to accounts. Sometimes the machinations are the schemes of middle-managers under enormous pressure to perform.
Firms like Wasatch Defense Lawyers typically deal with these kinds of cases – people lower down in the company hierarchy who appear more culpable to the authorities. The reason for this has to do with the fallout from prosecuting a company and imposing hefty fines. Getting organizations – as a legal entity – to pay penalties to the state harms everyone who relies on the operation for their livelihood, including customers and staff, not just senior management. Often the fines can be so high that the company eventually winds up going out of business, having massive ripple effects across the rest of the economy. That’s something the government wants to avoid.
White-collar crime, therefore, is a tricky subject. It is endemic to the places in which many of us work, but there’s little that the authorities can do about it unless it is wholly apparent, and there’s a high chance of conviction.
Of course, how hard the criminal justice system comes down on a company relates to its size. Authorities are much more likely to target smaller firms they suspect of nefarious dealings because the economic consequences of imposing a fine are much lower. Few people stand to lose if a company that employs ten people goes out of business because of a legal penalty imposed on the organization.
Larger operators, though, tend to have a longer run before the police make a move, meaning that problems can fester for months or years before they come to an end. Since most of us work in these organizations, it can be a challenge to protect yourself from the white-collar crimes of others. If the authorities decide to conduct an investigation, you can often find yourself in deep water.
So what’s the solution? Here are some strategies that you can use if you suspect a white-collar crime in your organization and want to protect yourself.
Become A Whistleblower
The best way to protect yourself is to become a whistleblower the moment you suspect that other people in your organization are breaking the law. By calling the attention of the authorities to what’s going on, you can protect yourself from legal action in the future and avoid becoming complicit in the scheme. Once you alert the criminal justice system, you can protect yourself from any criminal prosecution against you, so long as you don’t, then engage in whatever practices are causing the problem.
Keep A Record Of All Your Communications
If the worst comes to the worst and you’re dragged into court by a state prosecutor, then you must have material you can fall back on in your defense to say that you had no part in any scheme. Keep backups of all your messages and emails so that you can demonstrate that you weren’t involved with what was going on, even tangentially.
Recommend Regular External Audits
Many companies have endemic corruption that operates across the entire corporate structure. When it is so deeply embedded, it is difficult to remove.
Experienced firms find that external audits are among the best ways to protect themselves from possible charges of internal corruption. These auditors have sophisticated tools that they use to peer into financial accounts to ensure that everything is above board. They’re trained to know what to look for, in the event that something has gone awry.
Avoid Anything That Could Be Construed As A Bribe
Many industries have strict rules about how you can entertain clients. For instance, if your firm uses a third-party accounting company, then it should not wine and dine them. The reason for this is that it might impinge on their willingness to evaluate the company accounts accurately, finding ways to help them avoid paying tax, for instance (something you should talk to lawyer Glen Frost if you are worried that anything illegal might have taken place).
As an employee, you need to be aware of this kind of thing. If you have a client, think twice about inviting them out for dinner or sending them a gift. The authorities could construe it as professional malpractice and press criminal charges.
Wrapping Up
White-collar crime is endemic in many workplaces throughout the country, partly because it is hidden, and partly because many schemes are too complicated for most outsiders to understand. When the authorities do expose crimes, however, it can have a direct impact on your career prospects and could even lead to a criminal record. For this reason, it is something you need to be aware of while you go about your daily business. Take every precaution possible to protect yourself against legal liability.