Back in 1939, the term white-collar crime was first used. It’s now very common as a classification for certain criminal activities. Often, these involve government officials or business professionals.
The reason it’s called white-collar crime is that these are people who work in “white-collar” professions. They may be bankers, politicians, corporate executives, CEOs, business owners and others with high-level positions. The type of crime that they may commit is unique to that position, and it is typically financially motivated. Most often, it is a nonviolent form of crime, so there’s no chance that anyone would suffer physical harm. It’s simply done because the person is using their position of authority to their own financial advantage.
What are some examples?
There are hundreds of potential examples of white-collar crime, but fraud is one of the most common. An example of this could be a Ponzi scheme, where the owner of an investment firm uses money from new investors to pay off older investors. But since there’s no actual value to the new investments that are coming in, the scheme eventually collapses, and the newest investors lose everything.
Another example is embezzlement. This is when someone misappropriates financial assets from a business or a branch of the government for their own gain. For instance, the chief financial officer of a business naturally needs to have access to the company’s funds. As long as they use them for the business itself, there isn’t a problem. But if they start buying personal assets or transferring those financial assets to their own personal accounts, then it is a form of white-collar crime.
Those who have been accused of white-collar crime could be facing significant financial fines and even the chance of imprisonment. It is very important for them to understand all the legal defense options at their disposal.
