A Guide to White Collar Crime, Part II

In our last blog we explained what white collar crime is and some of the more common white collar charges in the US, including fraud, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement, and extortion.

White collar crimes are serious charges that can result in extremely harsh penalties, including major fines and jail time. In general, the designation of white collar crime is reserved for any crime that seeks to achieve illicit gains, usually financial in nature, through nonviolent actions. This is a broad category that refers to numerous crimes in the United States, and in this blog we will detail even more examples.

These crimes are aggressively pursued and prosecuted both federally and on a state level, which can often lead to innocent people getting caught up in a wave of white collar prosecution. Clearly, these crimes should be avoided at all costs, but if you find yourself charged with one, please call the Whalen Law Office and let us fight to defend your rights and take back your life.

Counterfeiting – this is the production and sale of fake goods for a profit. If you imitate or copy someone without their permission, and try to pass off the counterfeit as the real thing, you could find yourself facing white collar charges. The most prominent example of this is counterfeiting currency.

Forgery – remember when you tried to change the grades on your report card before your parents could see? If you do that in the real world, there are very real consequences. Forgery involves manipulating or completely changing a document for your own personal gain.

Insider Trading – this is the type of white collar crime you’ll hear most referred to with regard to Wall Street. This is a type of securities fraud where one utilizes confidential or advance information about publicly traded companies to buy or sell stock for their own financial gain. There are also numerous other white collar crimes that involve the stock market, including things like attempting to manipulate the market for your own gain, but most of these will all fall under the umbrella of “securities fraud.”

Money Laundering – no, this does not involve a trip to the laundromat. It is a form of white collar crime where money is obtained illegally, and then funneled through a legitimate business in order to make it more difficult for authorities to discover or track.

Tax Evasion – also one of the most common forms of white collar crime, tax evasion is where a person files inaccurate tax returns with the IRS or attempts to conceal income in order to pay less taxes.

Piracy – with the advent of the internet, piracy made the leap from the ocean to the web. Though it does not have to occur on the internet, the white collar version of piracy often does. It involves the theft or distribution of intellectual property.

Perjury – this is the crime of willfully lying while under oath in a court of law.

This list covers a broad swath of potential white collar crimes, but by no means is it exhaustive. If you have questions about white collar crime or you need a strong defense against white collar charges, please call the Whalen Law Firm, and don’t forget to check out Part I of this blog for more practical information about white collar crime in general and the various forms of white collar crime that exist.