Insider Trading: Walt Disney Company Proprietary Information
In this particular case the accused, Yonni Sebbag, was able to obtain insider information pertaining to the quarterly earnings of Disney Land through his co-conspirator Bonnie Hoxie. He intended to sell the information to various hedge funds/ trading firms with the intent of facilitating the illegal act of insider trading. Overall the severity of the crime is rather minimal compared to other activities of white-collar crime such as the Ponzi scheme conducted by Bernard Madoff. In this particular case, the only possible ramification would have been the effect the insider trading scheme would have had on the future profit margins of Disney however in terms of affecting other companies or individuals the overall ramification is rather minimal. It must be noted though such a view is not isolated to my own personal opinion but is also reflected in the prison term of the Sebbag himself which consists of only 27 months in prison with 2 years of supervised release. All in all such a prison sentence can be considered rather light which is a reflection of what the courts perceived as a rather minor crime. The inherent problem though in such a case is that due to the light prison term it might encourage other individuals to pursue similar white-collar crimes since the perceived benefits greatly outweigh the costs which can be considered rather minimal.
Health Fraud Takedown
In summary, this article details the various cases of medical insurance fraud wherein various individuals to pose as legitimate medical health providers in an attempt to defraud Medicare out of millions of dollars in false claims. Overall the scheme itself does seem rather sophisticated since not only do the people involved have to know the proper procedures necessary to file false billing claims to Medicare but they also have to ensure that for all intents and purposes they appear as legitimate medical health providers, at least on paper. Such a scheme is not limited to people posing as medical health practitioners but can also involve the practitioners themselves since additional research into this particular article reveals that various medical clinics are themselves guilty of repetitively filing false claims in order to increase their rate of revenue. The inherent problem with such a scheme is that the U.S. is already suffering from problems involving its ability to provide affordable medical assistance to its citizens. As such, not only does this particular scheme affect Medicare but it also affects various individuals who are in need of medical assistance since these false claims directly affect the ability of the company to properly sustain its current method of operations.
Bribery Aimed at Controlling the Taxicab Industry of the District of Columbia
In this particular case the accused, Yitbarek Syume, pleaded guilty to charges involving his attempt to dominate the taxicab industry of the District of Columbia through $360,000 in bribes handed out to various public officials within the district. In this particular case while there is little impact to the general public in terms of lost revenue the crime is still considered severe since it involved various public officials who were supposed to uphold a certain measure of integrity regarding their positions. What must be understood though is that this is not an isolated case rather it is one where the public officials were actually caught. Various studies examining the degree of corruption in certain sectors of the government reveal that there is indeed corruption however the people responsible are rarely caught or prosecuted due to the power of their positions. As such this particular case should be made into an example wherein the prosecution should levy the heaviest possible punishment applicable to deter and prevent people in public office from committing similar crimes in the future.
Denial of Service Attacks on Websites
For this case, the accused, Bruce Raisley, was charged with committing several denials of service attacks on various websites as a result of malicious articles being distributed which portray him in a negative light. While it is understandable that Raisley would want to prevent such articles from being distributed further maligning his name the fact remains that he resorted to the use of an illegal activity that compromised nearly 100,000 computers around the world. The crime itself was definitely sophisticated since it involved the creation of a computer virus capable of penetrating 100,000 systems and using all those systems at once in order to commit denial of service attacks on various websites. The inherent problem with this case is that the main problem was not solved at all, while it may be true that Raisley was arrested and put into jail for a number of years the fact remains that a certain level of resentment does remain between Raisley and Von Erck. What the prosecutors and even the judge in this particular case failed to take note of is the potential for this particular type of resentment to escalate well into the future possibly leading to a case of violent crime. Based on this assumption not only has the judgment, in this case, avoiding the main issue but it has in effect created a greater impetus for Raisley to commit a violent crime against Von Erck in the future as revenge.
A New York Senator Embezzling Funds
The details of this particular case involved a New York State Senator, Pedro Espada Jr. and his son Pedro Gautier Espada, who collectively embezzled $500,000 from the not for profit Soundview Healthcare center which Espada Jr. had established in 1978. An examination of the case proceedings reveal that the funds embezzled from the clinic went into paying for the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the father and son as well as other family members and friends who directly benefitted from their actions. It must be noted that due to its location in the Bronx, an area in New York known for having a large population of urban poor, the clinic was directly responsible for providing many within the area with an affordable means of healthcare. Not only that the Soundview center also happened to receive up to $1,000,000 in annual federally mandated aid in order to help sustain its operations. While there is no inherent sophistication to the crime it can be considered severe since not only did the Senator and his son embezzle funds from a clinic that was not for profit but in effect denied essential services to various members of the Bronx community since the money that was embezzled could have gone to providing better medical equipment or services that the community needed. While the 10 year imprisonment and the subsequent fine of $250,000 per conviction seems to be a fair punishment for the crime committed it must be questioned whether other similar incidences are happening with not for profit clinics that are also receiving federally mandated aid.
Ponzi Scheme Involving a Fake Grocery Business
The accused in this case, Nevin Shapiro, was convicted of creating a Ponzi scheme wherein he tricked investors through the use of his company, Capitol Investments USA Inc., into investing into a fraudulent wholesale grocery distribution business which was actually nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. The severity of the crime can be seen in the fact that nearly $880 million dollars was tricked out of 60 investors which may be lost forever. One insight I gained from this particular case is the fact that Shapiro was easily able to dupe supposedly intelligent investors into thinking that he had a whole sale grocery business when in fact he didn’t. While this particular fraud involved $880 million dollars in potentially lost assets it did however only affect 60 people. This is an indication that most if not all of those 60 were very wealthy investors who had invested into project based on the facts and figures Shapiro showed to them. This is an indication that a proper system needs to be put into place wherein corporations are properly investigated and listed by a third party or government mandated agency as being acceptable recipients of investments.
Based on past precedents such as the case of Bernard Madoff involving a similar type of Ponzi scheme albeit to a lesser degree it is possible that the prosecution in this particular case will implement a similar style of sentencing wherein Shapiro will probably receive a lifetime sentence for his actions. What must be understood is that unlike cases of street crime various types of white collar crime have distinct economic impacts since they affect the level of spending and amount of assets that enter into the public market. Such cases when they do occur are usually followed by periods of economic stagnation where people are reluctant to invest into anything in particular due to the possibility of fraud or loss of assets. As such in terms of the prosecution of this offense I would have to say that the harshest possible punishment be implemented in order to prevent future actions in the same category.