What is White Collar Crime?

White collar crime ranges from deceit and violation of trust to consumer and securities fraud. White collar crimes are financial to gain a personal or professional advantage. White collar criminals devastate families, investors, and businesses. White collar crime includes, but is not limited to, corruption of public officials, such as prison guards, money laundering, all types of fraud, embezzlement, election law violations, mass marketing scams, and health care and welfare fraud.

Types of White Collar Crime

The United States Department of Justice groups white collar criminals into group A and group B offenders. Group A white collar criminals committed fraud, bribery, counterfeiting, forgery, theft of intellectual property, or embezzlement. Writing bad checks and welfare fraud are usually group B offenses. Fraud and counterfeiting comprise 3.8 percent of the white collar criminal convictions investigated by the FBI annually. Four percent of the white collar criminal arrests from 1997 to 1999 stemmed from bad-check transactions.

White Collar Crime Example Cases

Identity Theft and Counterfeit Money

In this case of identity theft, Deontrae Bailey, 19, possessed and distributed counterfeit money on July 9, 2013. He spent several thousands of counterfeit dollars in four neighboring municipalities. Rickie Bailey, Jr., 25, enjoyed his stay in the Sun Suites Motel until officers seized his 46 debit cards obtained through identity theft, a magnetic card reader and writer, recent receipts, and his address book full of names, birthdates, and social security numbers illegally obtained.

Corrupt Public Officials

Corrections Officer (CO) Stephen Wise, 34, pleaded guilty to stabbing an inmate on July 31, 2016 in the Eastern Correctional Institution. The Eastern Correctional Institution, Maryland’s largest prison, houses 3,300 inmates. In 2016, CO Stephen Wise, 34, was one of 80 people indicted for conspiracy to distribute and possess heroin, cocaine, buprenorphine, and MDMA within the Eastern Correction Institution (ECI), racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering.

“Prison corruption is a longstanding, deeply rooted problem,” stated Rod Jay Rosenstein, the 37th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. “Public servants who betray [others] for personal gain threaten our society.” The ECI corruption case is the largest case in the history of the U. S. Criminal District Court of Maryland.

The language and conduct of the low-level state employees, entry-level corrections officers, was inflammatory. Alexander Crippen, incarcerated for firing a AR-15 assault rifle in a quiet neighborhood, controlled some heroin flow into ECI. CO Ennis sexually involved with Alexander’s wife, Katrina, obtained heroin and suboxolone heroin treatment strips from her. CO Sherima Bell took the contraband from CO Ennis and delivered it to Alexander Crippin in her vagina or sanitary pad.

Corporate Crime Example Cases

The FBI investigates corporations that falsify financial records and deceive consumers and investors. False financial records mislead consumers and investors. Sales volume increases based on the fraudulent representation of the corporation, and fraudulent practices deceive investors into assuming bad debt. White collar criminals practice income tax fraud, misappropriate funds, market schemes, and falsify their assets. Obstruction of justice which blocks, delays, or disrupts investigation by the police, the FBI, or the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is also prosecuted.

Santander Consumer USA, Inc. settled on $9.35 million in damages in response to a lawsuit brought by the U. S. Department of Justice for improper repossession of 1,112 motor vehicles.

Two Serra Nissan managers and three Nissan salesmen, D. Scott Burton, 36, Michael J. Wilkinson, 56, Dwight A. Perry, 44, Terry W. Henderson, JR., 39, and Roland W. Riley, 28, were arrested and charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft in Birmingham, Alabama, when they fraudulently approved loans to increase their sales volume.

Example White Collar Crime Penalties and Charges

Ricky Bailey was sentenced to 33 months in prison for possession of counterfeit debit cards, but Deontrae L. Bailey, 23, wandered slowly across the library parking lot at 10:00 P.M. on Thursday, April 20, 2017. Darryl K. Wise, Jr., 26, called out to him. As Deontrae politely extended his lighter, Darryl put a beer in his hand. Stephen Wise, 34, was a respected corrections’ officer until his arrest in September 2016. Deontrae accidently hit Darryl with the beer bottle when he tossed it back to him. He didn’t want it. Deontrae detested hypocrisy, liars, and drug dealers. Darryl leaped off the porch. Deontrae walked down the street and fell onto the pavement, as Darryl, furious, shot him in the back with his handgun.

Stephen Wise received a 20-year prison sentence for conspiracy and 10 years for stabbing an inmate. Corrections officers Ennis and Bell were each sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy, money laundering, and wire fraud.

The maximum penalty in the Serra Nissan conspiracy to falsify a customer’s income to obtain car loans is five years in prison. Bank fraud is an additional 30 years in prison, and the penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison. Aggravated identity theft is a simple two years in prison.

What is White Collar Prison Like?

CNBC discusses the debilitating low-level, or nagging, fear that a Wall Street stock broker feels as he signs sales transactions without really knowing why. Going to prison is losing your freedom. Stephen Maiden was charged with securities fraud and ordered to repay $8.9 million to his investors. He was sentenced to seven years in a minimum security “White Collar” prison. He went into the court room facing a possible 20 year sentence. Mike Kimelman rejected a plea bargain to do probation instead of prison time and attempted to prove his innocence in criminal court. He was sentenced to and served 21 months in prison. Mike’s absence and prison sentence drastically impacted his family.

CNBC says the lights are bright and on every night at midnight, 3 A.M., 5 A.M., and lastly 6 A.M. every day in a “county club” prison. In 90 minutes you must shower, dress, make your bed, eat your breakfast, and report to your $1.15 per hour job. Marc Dreier is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiracy and money laundering. The day is pure drudgery and a fitting punishment to those who enjoyed luxury beyond their means and exploited others. You have absolutely no privacy, and the few visiting hours each week are depressing. The all cinderblock prison has fluorescent lights and no windows. Dreier, 62, will probably die in prison, but if his legal counsel can get his sentence reduced he may get to stay closer to home in a lower security prison.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains six types of prisons, and prisoners are assigned to facilities based on the length of their sentence and the threat they pose to society. A difference between low and medium security prisons is that rooms are dorm-like with bunk beds, dressers, and desks in low security prisons. Low security inmates may live in cubicles with a barber shop and a prison commissary for those who can get their hands on legitimate money. If Dreier is released in 2026, he’ll be 76 and maybe then, he’ll get to sleep for 8 hours. You can’t imagine what it is like to live in even a minimum security prison under surveillance 24 hours each day. It’s an experience which will stick with you the rest of your life.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons calls minimum security institutions prison camps. They are work and program oriented with dormitory housing and low staff to inmate ratios. Many prisons have small satellite minimum security camps next to them. Medium security prisons have fortified perimeters, electronic detection systems, cell housing, treatment programs, and a more prison staff per inmate. High security penitentiaries with maximum security walls and reinforced barbed fences have the highest staff-to-inmate ratio of all the prisons. Within them, inmates’ movements are controlled.

What are Administrative Prisons?

In Federal correctional complexes different security level prisoners are housed near each other. Administrative facilities have special missions to hold prisoners awaiting trial, treat inmates with mental illnesses, or hold extremely dangerous or violent offenders. Federal medical centers hold prisoners with medical problems, and Federal transfer centers are for prisoners awaiting release. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections maintains the administrative Eastern Correctional Institution whose mission is to promote safety, increase security, and creatively restore offenders into productive contributing members of society.

The Maryland Department of Corrections believes in the value of each human being whether they are the public, employees, those in custody, or crime victims. The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services works with partner agencies to use technology to share intelligence information used to reduce crime and violence throughout the United State.

Qualities of a Good White Collar Crimes Attorney

You want a criminal attorney who will strive tirelessly for the best possible outcome in your case. If you are accused or arrested for the commission of a white collar crime, the use of deceit for financial gain, rest assured the penalties are as severe as the sentences for violent crime. You accusation or arrest is where your criminal defense attorney starts. You need an experienced powerful aggressive white collar criminal defense Super Lawyer.

A good criminal lawyer will prepare to litigate your case by:

• Investigating your case
• Finding additional evidence
• Interviewing parties
• Preparing your witnesses
• Explaining your defenses
• Negotiating with prosecutors

An accomplished criminal defense attorney may be able to get your felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor conviction with probation to be expunged later if you never make the same mistake again.

Without a staunch white collar criminal defense attorney, you could spend your life in prison, lose your family, and your freedom. The best strategy may be to reduce the problem and put it behind you.