What is a White Collar Crime?
The term “white-collar crime” was coined in 1939, according to the FBI, and it’s become “synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals.”
White-Collar crimes do not depend on threat or actual violence or physical force. Instead, white-collar crimes are completely financially motivated. Criminal activity involves deceit, concealment and violation of trust. Typically, the goal of a white-colllar crime is to obtain or avoid losing money, services, property or a business or even personal advantage.
White Collar crimes can be prosecuted by the state of Florida if they are considered a state crime, but they can also be prosecuted on a federal level as a federal crime depending on the allegations.
A federal crime is different from a state crime, but federal crimes can still be committed within the state of Florida and by Floridians. A federal crime is any criminal offense that the United States and U.S. Federal legislation deems to be illegal, and the U.S. federal government has jurisdiction (power) over the case.
The FBI’s corporate fraud investigations primarily focus on:
- Falsification of financial information
- Self-dealing by corporate insiders
- Fraud in connection with an otherwise legitimately operated mutual hedge fund
- Money laundering
- Securities and commodities Fraud
COMMON FEDERAL CRIMES IN SOUTH FLORIDA
A variety of white collar crimes, state or federal, take place in South Florida fairly routinely. Rossen Law Firm primarily handles White Collar cases in Broward and Palm Beach counties, but don’t hesitate to reach out if you’ve been charged with any of these federal crimes in Florida and are looking for award-winning defense attorneys to fight for you and protect your future.
- Bankruptcy Fraud: Anyone who knowingly or intentionally obtains property or other assets from bankruptcy proceedings, states false oath or false proof of claim OR anyone who conceals, destroys, or falsifies documents relating to bankruptcy and withholding documents may be found guilty of a bankruptcy crime.
- Bank Fraud: The federal crime of possession of child pornography is when someone has, transports or ships visual depictions of child porn. Any form of possession of child porn is a crime and becomes a federal crime if it took place in multiple states, internationally involving the U.S., or was otherwise considered under federal jurisdiction (most online porn possession charges are federal).
- Tax Fraud & Tax Evasion: Tax fraud is when a person and/or business fails to pay taxes owed. Tax evasion is when a person and/or business internationally misrepresents their tax return to avoid paying higher taxes.
- Wire Fraud: Wire fraud includes intending to scheme or defraud someone/something to obtain money or property by means of false pretenses or promises transmitted by wire, radio, or television and/or any such writings, signs, signals.
- Anti-Trust Violations: An antitrust violations crime is when a company or business purposely fixes prices that put their competitors in a disadvantageous position.
- Money Laundering: A federal money laundering crime is when someone disguises the money they earned through illegal means, such as through drug trafficking, and tries to make it look like the money was legally earned.
- Organized Schemes to Defraud: Federal Organized Scheme to Defraud is when one intentionally tries to defraud one or multiple people by giving them misinformation in order to acquire property from them without fulfilling their end of the bargain.
- Racketeering & RICO: RICO stands for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. This is a United States federal law that allows for the prosecution of people involved in a criminal organization. Racketeering is when one is involved in illegal business activity or a criminal organization.
- Securities Fraud: Federal Securities Fraud is when someone manipulates or lies about financial information in order to make a profit from investors.
- Conspiracy to Commit Fraud: Conspiracy to commit a federal crime happens when 2 or more people agree to commit a specific federal crime, and then at least one person does something to move toward committing the crime or carrying out the conspiracy.
- Consumer Fraud Investigations: Consumer fraud occurs when a person suffers from financial losses by participating in false and unfair business practices.
- Counterfeit Currency: When a person commits a Federal Counterfeit Currency crime that means they’ve falsely made, manufactured, or altered currency.
- Embezzlement: Embezzlement is a white collar crime and described as when a person steals or misappropriates money or property from an employer or business partner.
- Extortion & Bribery: A criminal extortion offense is defined as using force – or even the threat of force – to obtain money, something of value or services from a person. Bribery is similar to extortion in the sense that money is typically involved, but instead of the crime involving a threat, the aggressor usually uses money as a tool to secure some sort of advantage or special privileges from the victim.
- Insurance Fraud: Insurance fraud incudes committing a fraudulent action in relation to an insurance company. Whether in the purchasing process, while holding a policy or terminating a policy, the crime of insurance fraud is wide-reaching and can be applied to a wide variety of insurance related crimes.
- Kickbacks & Stark Billing: Federal kickbacks are commonly known and enforced under the AKS ( Anti-kickback Statute), and further, Stark laws are designed to limit monetary influence on medical referrals. Essentially, while referral fees are allowed, encouraged and even standard in some professions – they are illegal in others, specifically the medical and health care professions.
- Mortgage Fraud: Mortgage fraud on the federal level can be described as any type of fraudulent activity as it relates to the process of acquiring, paying off, or holding a mortgage.
- Insider Trading: Insider trading is a federal crime in which a person who uses information about a stock not readily available to the public ⎯ which they gained as a company insider or from a person who works as an insider of the company ⎯ trades a public company’s securities and makes a profit or avoids a loss.
- Corporate Espionage: Corporate espionage is defined as the theft or misappropriation of a trade secret, with the intent to benefit a foreign government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent. Receiving, purchasing, or possessing a trade secret known to have been stolen or misappropriated, as well as any attempt or conspiracy to commit economic espionage are federal crimes.
CONSEQUENCES & PENALTIES OF WHITE COLLAR CRIMES
If convicted, white collar crimes often come with serious fines and state or federal prison sentences.
A skilled Fort Lauderdale white collar defense attorney is important to making sure that you and your future are protected and that your criminal exposure and potential fines and prison time is minimized.
Here are some penalty possibilities for White Collar crimes:
- Bankruptcy Fraud: Federal Bankruptcy fraud crimes come with penalties of up to 5 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
- Bank Fraud: Federal Bank fraud crimes come with a maximum federal prison sentence of 30 years, and fines that can reach as high as $1,000,000.
- Tax Fraud & Tax Evasion: If you are found guilty of tax fraud you will be fined up to $100,000 or $500,000 and/or imprisoned up to 5 years.
- Wire Fraud: If you are found guilty of wire fraud you can face imprisonment up to 20 years along with $250,000-$500,000 fines. If during a declared disaster or involves a financial institution you can serve 30 years and face fines in the millions.
- Antitrust Violations: An antitrust violations crime can result in a business needing to pay $100,000,000 and an individual could be charged a $1,000,000 fee
- Money Laundering: A federal money laundering crime can lead to 16 months to 30 years in prison, and there is no limit on the amount that someone can be fined for a federal money laundering crime which could mean millions.
- Organized Schemes to Defraud: Being convicted of an Organized Scheme to Defraud can result in up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $10,000.
- Racketeering & RICO: If convicted, it is possible that you could be spending life in prison. Fines are also hefty and you could be looking at fines twice the amount of any profit you made racketeering.
- Securities Fraud: You are looking at up to 25 years in prison for Federal Securities Fraud if you’re convicted. Fines can range up to $5 million.
- Conspiracy to Commit Fraud: Conspiracy to commit a federal crime consequences vary dependant on the type of federal crime you conspired to commit. Fines, even for conspiracy, can still range up to $1 million if convicted and federal prison sentences can range up to 30 years.
- Consumer Fraud Investigations: If a consumer fraud investigation leads to state or federal criminal charges, the consequences will depend on the specific federal or state crimes you end up being charged with by law enforcement.
- Counterfeit Currency: Counterfeit currency penalties can range from 5 years to 15 years in prison and as little as $2,000 in fines all the way up to $15,000 in fines.
- Embezzlement: Federal Embezzlement consequences vary greatly, but can lead to fines up to $1 million and up to 30 years in federal prison if convicted.
- Extortion & Bribery: An federal extortion crime can lead to up to 20 years in prison. A federal bribery crime can lead to up to 15 years in prison and fines up to 3 times as much as the value of the bribe offered if convicted.
- Insurance Fraud: Federal insurance fraud convictions can result in 20-30 years in federal prison and up to $1 million in fines.
- Kickbacks & Stark Billing: Federal conviction penalties vary, but can include fines of $25,000 PER kickback charge, and up to 5 years in prison. Stark Penalties can result in $15,000 fines per service and can also prohibit physicians from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs in the future.
- Mortgage Fraud: Mortgage fraud consequences can include up to 30 years in prison and up to $30 million in fines.
- Insider Trading: Insider trading is a federal crime in which a person who uses information about a stock not readily available to the public ⎯ which they gained as a company insider or from a person who works as an insider of the company ⎯ trades a public company’s securities and makes a profit or avoids a loss.
- Corporate Espionage: Corporate espionage convictions can lead to up to $500,000 fines per offense and up to 15 years in prison for an individual. A corporation can face up to $10 million in fines.
GET IN TOUCH WITH A WHITE COLLAR CRIME DEFENSE ATTORNEY
We don’t leave a single stone unturned when it comes to building your defense against the U.S. government’s or state’s white collar crime allegations against you.
If you’re looking for a skilled, award-winning white collar defense attorney in Ft. Lauderdale – you’re in the right place. We work to help you achieve your best future by minimizing your risk of prison and fines so you can get back to living the life you love.
White Collar Crime Defense Strategies
Being charged with a white collar crime in South Florida in no way indicates that you will be convicted of the crime – and having a great white collar attorney helps to maximize the chance that you will suffer minimal consequences.
There are numerous defense strategies that can be employed to protect you, your rights, and your future from the threat of a state or federal allegation, charges and convictions.
Free White Collar Defense Consultation in South Florida
We offer Free Consultations (we call them strategy Sessions) to anyone facing a white collar criminal allegation.
We go above and beyond a free consultation by offering a free strategy session in which we listen to your whole story and learn everything we can about your case and let you know how we’d get to work to defend you. You’ll know what kind of strategy we’d employ to protect your future – you learn all this before you ever pay Rossen Law Firm a single penny. Contact a South Florida white collar defense lawyer to get started.
HOW WE WIN FEDERAL & CRIMINAL DEFENSE CASES IN FLORIDA
- Rossen Law Firm helped a man avoid minimum prison time for a Federal Child Porn possession charge in South Florida.
- Rossen Law Firm gets Credit Card fraud case dropped in Boca Raton, Florida.
- A Mother & Son’s Insurance Fraud Charges Dropped in Fort Lauderdale