VECO: Businessman Sentenced In Corruption

During the time of the scandal, which broke in mid-2005, PBS&J had 4,000 employees in 75 offices in 24 states (Barnett, 2007). A number of high-profile projects were under construction with FDOT, OOCEA, and TxDOT. The funds from these projects were being brought into the firm at a rapid rate; however, PBS&J contained a flimsy internal controls system which facilitated the embezzlement that eventually took place. The major players of the scandal were located in the firm’s Miami office. They were Scott DeLoach, then chief financial officer (CFO); Maria Garcia, an accounting employee who was in charge of the office’s database and bank reconciliations; and Rosario Licata, a bookkeeper who maintained the firm’s benefits bank account (Eubanks, 2016).

The key points made in the documentary on Jack Abramoff is briery, tax evasion, kickbacks and corruption worth jeopardizing your life, freedom, family, and ethics over. Jack Abramoff was a successfully lobbyist that thrived on winning and the attempt to influence decisions that were made by him and his team on contacts and things they believed in. Consequently, those beliefs and influence turned into to greed and unethical practices which caused Jack to lose his way. Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in January of 2006 to charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and tax evasion in connection with his lobbying activities. Therefore, Jack risked his success and lowered his ethical standard for the internal biases and external pressures of greed

The Tweed Ring Scandal in New York City occurred in the 1850s and was an elaborate scheme that brought the U.S economy to the brink of collapse. It all started with mastermind William "Boss" Tweed. Tweed came from humble beginnings, he started to gain political power as a New York City firefighter. In 1853, he was elected to serve on the U.S. House of Representatives. His main concern while in office were state and local affairs, his main focus being New York City. As a senator, Tweed craved power and did whatever he could to get it. He assembled a group of democrat elites together to carry out his plan for power and riches. His plan was to use monetary bribes and political positions to win personal support and assemble his own little

Kenneth Lay, (former Enron Chairman and CEO) and Enron poured millions of dollars into both political parties, cultivating access and using the entrée to lobby Congress, the White House and regulatory agencies for action that critical to the energy company’s spectacular growth.

The following case is one of the most famous white-collar crime cases known to date. Enron Corporation was an American energy company based out of Houston, Texas. Kenneth Lay formed Enron in 1985 after a huge merger. Over time Enron’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and other corporate executives misled auditors and the board of directors in major financial transactions. Thus, $11 million dollars was lost by shareholders after Enron’s stocks dramatically fell in the end of 2001. Enron was then bankrupt. In this case, many Enron executives were sentenced to prison, a rare punishment for white-collar crime. As a result of this incident, the Sarbanes- Oxley Act was enacted. This act ensured that there would be

Large businesses often can maneuver their way through the system very well due to the extremely large amounts of money then have. These companies have been known to use harmful production techniques that destroy our national resources and in some cases our own citizens and are not legally implicated. In the case of “Madison v. Ducktown, Sulphur, Copper & Iron Co.”, a large mining company had been damaging the air quality, destroy the local environment, and made several properties unlivable through the system of their mining.

Enron boosted profits and hid debts, manipulated CA and TX energy, using off the books partnerships, and pay foreign government to win contract

Another example of this is in New York City, where a "hospital for special surgery, paid Cassidy 140,000 dollars and obtained a 1 million dollar grant from HRSA" (Zeller 2006). This is what lobbyist companies are able to do they receive a sum from their customer and then in return try and give them a lot of government money. This affected Texas because not every time someone gives a lobbying group money are they guaranteed to receive anything in return. One of Cassidy 's clients were the president at the University of Dallas, and what probably took place is that they did not get the federal funding at one of the universities in the state and now the accountant or comptroller begins to wonder why public universities are giving a lobbying group in Washington so much money and getting nothing back, so she pulls the plug on allowing them to receive any more money. Cassidy certainly has not shied away from looking shady with their business. In the nineties they hired as CEO a man named Marty Pusso and he was "vice chairman of the house ways and means health subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over numerous healthcare issues and programs" (Zeller 2006). Being the Vice Chairman as well as CEO of a lobbying company that "in 1999 received 1.3 million dollars from 10 hospitals" (Zeller 2006) seems to create a conflict of interest problem or in Pusso’s case a solution. Furthermore, this questions as to how

With all the money these corporations bring in much is spent to influence politics with hefty campaign contributions and corporate lobbying in Washington. All of this is business to them, helping individuals that will push their agenda get into high places politically is just the tip of the iceberg. 28 states now have something called the "three strikes or habitual offender laws" These laws make it possible to send anyone to prison for life on their third felony charge regardless of the circumstances. They need to make sure convictions rates stay sky high to keep the commodities coming. CCA inmates had time

In October of 2011 investigators ended Kerry F, Khan’s schemes of bribery and kickbacks. For several years Khan had managed the Army Corps of Engineers, and had collected 30 million dollars through his trickery. He did so by hiring subcontractors that he made inflate their bills by adding products of services they didn’t actually do. He would certify it and

In the year 2005, it was discovered by the FBI that a former Member of the United States House of Representatives, former Congressman William Jefferson, had been deeply involved in several accounts of criminal activity, such as money laundering, racketeering, and public corruption between the United States and a few African countries (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). He was able to get away with five hundred thousand dollars, not limiting himself to the amount of money he stole. Jefferson had been charged in the year 2008 on sixteen counts of illicit acts with foreign government officials, and found that several banks and foreign organizations were being used by Congress to aid in Jefferson’s illicit transactions, making the entire government appear to be corrupt. Thousands of dollars were pursued from telecommunications, certain exports like sugar, oil, along with other African organizations (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). Jefferson had been found guilty on eleven of the sixteen counts and sent to prison for twenty years.

Before 2003, the justice department did not offer these types of deals. Not prosecuting these companies and the individuals in charge leads to a lack of accountability among executives. Instead Eric Holder, who wrote the “Holder Doctrine” and was former United States attorney general, chose to find these institutions.

Imagine you are a teen walking down the street with a friend. Now imagine being surrounded by police and getting searched for something that is not there. Since the item in question can not be placed the accuser changes their story; After multiple versions of what allegedly happened the police arrest you and your friend. Due to having a history of theft, a judge charges you with second degree robbery, even though there is no evidence to prove any wrong doing. Thinking the justice system will come through, and knowing your innocence, a trial is requested. Bail is set and cannot be paid due to economic hardship. Another consequence of not having money for bail, is there is also no money for a private attorney. A public defender, who has to many cases to keep straight, is assigned to help defend in court, yet he is trying to lessen his load and recommends several times that a plea deal is the best option that should be taken, even in the case of innocence. Picture holding out hope that if the case could just go to trial all would come to light. Four years pass by, mostly spent in solitary confinement, where the harsh circumstances begin to take a toll, mentally and physically. Imagine conditions so horrible, death seems better than enduring another day. Now picture the day for “justice” is finally here. No sooner does court get started it ends. The case gets thrown out due to the person who started all of this not being present. All the suffering that has been endured,

In the Encyclopaedia of White-Collar Crime, co-authors Jurg Gerber and Eric. L Jensen define corporate crime as “violations of federal or state laws that are committed by employees on behalf of the company rather than simply for their own gain.” The definition and classification of what falls under a corporate crime is highly problematic in that corporations can afford defence lawyers that can find loopholes in the legislation in order to avoid charges. Even more perplexing, is that “corporations define the laws under which they live” according to Russell Mokhiber report’s Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade (1996) published in the Corporate Crime Reporter. Mokhiber introduces the example that “the automobile industry... has worked its will on Congress to block legislation that would impose criminal sanctions on knowing and wilful

Since corporations are not physical things or people, it is very easy for them to avoid any kind of trouble. Corporations have become great at passing on their externalities to the public. An externality is an expense of any kind, whether it is something such as environmental damage or forcing people in an area to pay money for something, that a corporation forces the public to pay for while they privatize all profits. Corporations being externalizing machines fit in very well with their psychopathic behavior. They externalize any cost to the public because they can and it helps them achieve their goal of making as much money as possible. A quote from Robert Monks puts it very well, he says “The corporation is an externalizing machine