While white-collar crimes are thought of as happening infrequently, the truth is that they occur more often than most people realize. In fact, these crimes are so common that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has established several divisions within its ranks in order to deal with them. These divisions fall under the Financial Crimes Section and include:

• Asset Forfeiture/Money Laundering Unit (AF/MLU)
• Economics Crime Unit (ECU)
• Health Care Fraud Unit (HCFU)
• Financial Intelligence Center (FIC)

Cost to the Economy

In all, financial crimes costs the U.S. economy more than $400 billion annually. It is estimated that the average business loses $9 per day for each employee. The average organization also loses an estimated six percent of its annual earnings to fraud from employees.

When it comes to the actual perpetrators, there are some surprising statistics that have been gathered over the years:

• The typical offender is a college-educated white male.
• Men commit nearly 75 percent of all offenses
• Crimes committed by men result in monetary losses that are on average four times greater than those caused by women.
• Managers commit more offenses than hourly employees do.
• Those in executive positions commit crimes that cost an average of 16 times that of the median amount perpetrated by hourly workers.
• Crimes against the real estate financing industry result in higher losses than any other sector.

Prosecution for so-called white-collar offenses  have actually decreased in recent years, while the number of people being charged with fraud crimes, embezzlement crimes and larceny has actually increased. Being investigated for any of these offenses is a serious matter, and those who are the target of such an investigation would do well to involve legal counsel as soon as they are aware that charges are imminent.

Have a talk with Rand Mintzer at 713-862-8880to hear more about business crimes.