An Example of White Collar Crime – Atlanta Georgia

The term “ white collar crime ” is so broad that I figured I’d give you an example I read about recently that will hopefully help you wrap your mind around just how horrible a crime this can really be. For nearly 60 years a non-profit corporation known as The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (or the Claims Conference) has been overseeing German government funds that assist Holocaust survivors.

The FBI recently announced that 6 Claims Conference employees, along with 11 other conspirators, had been charged with a decade-long scheme to defraud the organization and legitimate holocaust victims out of over $42 million.

Here’s how this particular case of white collar crime went down. Driven by crooked Claims Conference employees, former employees and other conspirators recruited people who weren’t eligible for the program to take part in the fraud. To make it appear that applicants were eligible, identification documents were often altered. For example, a birth date was changed to make it appear that applicants were born during or before World War II and fake Nazi persecution stories were often made up. Fraudulent applications were reviewed and approved by corrupt Claims Conference employees. Once the applicants received their money, they kept a portion for themselves but were instructed to pay certain “fees” using the rest. These “fees” were usually paid in the form of cash or money order and always ended up in the pockets of the conspirators.

The FBI’s New York Assistant Director in Charge, Janice Fedarcyk, said that the victims of this scheme were “those who had already suffered at the hands of Nazi persecution only to have their experiences exploited again. This brazen miscarriage of the compensation program is, in its own way, a kind of crime against humanity.” White collar crime is not, as many believe, a victimless crime. Often the least fortunate among us are the ones that suffer the most.

For more information about corporate fraud investigation , employee theft , corporate fraud investigator , internal theft contact us at white collar crime or call 1.770.426.0547 – Atlanta Georgia