White Collar Crime
The phrase “white collar crime” originated from the erroneous overgeneralization that these crimes are committed by business executives who wear white shirts with ties. In 1981, the Department of Justice defined it as “nonviolent crime for financial gain…”(1) Today, there is still a fair amount of disagreement over an exact definition for this term.
Often, innocent people are caught up in federal and state investigations for white collar crimes that they don’t understand and face charges for crimes that they didn’t commit. Or, there could be charges based on technical regulations—the individual may have committed a crime without even knowing it. Then, even more appalling, these upstanding citizens are often treated like felons by the government. It frequently feels to them like their Constitutional Rights have been extinguished.
White Collar Crime: Common Allegations
These are a few of the common types of alleged white collar crimes:
- Tax fraud
- Tax evasion
- Conspiracy
- Forgery
- Embezzlement
- Cybercrime
- Real estate fraud
- Anti-trust crimes
- Accounting fraud
- Hacking
- Computer fraud and abuse
- Financial fraud
- Securities fraud
- Money laundering
- Mail and wire fraud
- Software piracy
- Internet gambling
- Honest services fraud
- Mortgage and bank fraud
- Internet and computer crimes
- Environmental and regulatory offenses
- Intellectual property crimes
It can be very important to get legal representation quickly in these types of cases. For instance, there is one particularly tragic pattern that can arise. The Department of Justice expends a large amount of taxpayer money (often in the form of salaries to Special Agents and other investigators) simply establishing an operational understanding of a business that is under investigation. Driven by a desire to have something to show for their work, some government employees will start a fishing expedition if the initial investigation does not reveal any possible crimes. So, there’s a risk that they will do something like examine the personal tax returns of the corporate board or CEO, find possible errors (often that were committed by these individuals’ advisors without the individuals even being aware of the errors), and then make a criminal case.
Since these cases concern an individual’s freedom, it is critical to have experienced white collar crime counsel. Attorney Rain Minns has represented individuals in a number of professions, including a mayor, an economist, a stock broker, a venture capitalist, a minister’s wife, an agricultural manager, a lawyer, a family businessman, a physician, a former NFL player, an accountant, and others. In fact, Rain is on the White Collar Crime Committee for the largest criminal defense organization in the country, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).
(1) Bureau of Justice Statistics, United States Department of Justice, Dictionary of Criminal Justice Data Terminology 215 (2d ed. 1981).