You probably heard the term “white-collar crime” at some point. A white-collar crime is not in any way violent; however, there are victims of white-collar crimes in most cases. A white-collar crime can take down a business, destroy a person’s savings, cost investors huge amounts of money and destroy the trust that the public has in various American institutions.
White-collar crimes are a nationwide problem that is only getting worse over time. One of the institutions that has dedicated people who are working on white-collar crimes is the Federal Bureau of Instigation, or FBI. The FBI’s white-collar crime program concentrates on analyzing relevant intelligence and figuring out complicated investigations, which are frequently connected to organized crime.
How widespread are white-collar crimes?
As an organization, the FBI works in tandem with law enforcement and regulatory agencies to solve white-collar crimes, such as:
- The Internal Revenue Service
- The Securities and Exchange Commission
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- The U.S. Postal Inspection Service
- The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
What are some examples of white-collar crimes?
There are many different examples of the various types of white-collar crimes, such as corporate fraud. The FBI leads the investigations into this type of fraud and concentrates on cases that involve accounting schemes and corporate executives who help themselves to what is not theirs. The FBI also concentrates on obstruction of justice. To whittle it down even further, the FBI focuses on people who falsify financial information, corporate insiders who skim and money laundering.
Money laundering is another type of fraud that is on the FBI’s radar. Money laundering is defined as taking “dirty” money “cleaning” money by making it appear as thought the money that is generated from crimes really came from legitimate sources.
Money laundering allows criminals to hide and accumulate a great deal of wealth, avoid the law, not pay taxes, reinvest the money and thus increase their profits and fund more criminal activity. As far as individuals are concerned, the FBI concentrates on money launderers, the main facilitators, the complicit financial institutions, and the gatekeepers.
Solid legal advice from a Houston, Texas, attorney
If you have been charged with a white-collar crime, you are facing serious charges that will most likely impact your life. Your career, reputation and freedom will all hang in the balance. That is why the solid legal advice of a white-collar crime attorney may make a world of difference to your case. The attorney can provide a solid defense for you and can help you to protect your rights while defending your life and freedom at the same time.