Essay on White Collar Crimes in America - 3039 Words

Throughout history there have been many white collar crimes. These crimes are defined as non-violent and financial-based crimes that are full ranges of fraud committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are not victimless nor unnoticed. A single scandal can destroy a company and can lose investors millions of dollars. Today, fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever, and through studying: Enron, LIBOR, Albert Wiggan and Chase National Bank, Lehman Brothers and Madoff, we find how the culprits started there deception, the aftermath of the scandal and what our country has done to prevent future scandals. In the 1920’s, Wall Street was a very different place than it is today. There was a great lack†¦show more content†¦On Black Thursday of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 Wiggin teamed up with other Wall Street bankers in an attempt to save the stock market. Wiggin and other bankers committed substantial funds for an investment pool in order to buy large blocks of shares of major U.S. corporations at prices that were above the current market. This stopped the slide that day and stabilized the market. However, in the Pecora Commission investigation of the Wall Street crash it was discovered that starting in September of that year Wiggin began selling short his personal shares of Chase. Using strictly family owned corporations, Wiggin was able to hide the trades and create a position in which we would profit by having his company fail. He was able to short over 40,000 shares and made over $4 million dollars tax-free because he used a Canadian company to buy the stocks. Additionally, Wiggin accepted a $100,000 a year pension for life but later declined the pension because of public uproar. All Wiggin’s money was made legally at the time and he was not alone in doing this. Due to all the other occurrences similar to this one, there was a revision made in 1934 of the 1933 Securities Act that created stricter regulations on insider trading. This stated that all companies listed on stock exchanges must follow the requirements set by the act. The primary requirements of the Securities ActShow MoreRelatedWhite Collar Crime in America Essay examples517 Words   |  3 PagesWe like every other person in this world, when we hear the word crime; we automatically get an image of a person from a low class in a bad neighborhood and coming from a troubled family. However, who knew that those who are educated and coming from a wealthy family can also pertain to the world of crime and mischief. We as human beings tend to also be judgmental, assuming that only unprivileged men have a drive to commit an offense against the law then a prosperous individual. 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