Reference no: EM133748107

Create a one paragraph response to the following discussion and include references:

This week we are looking at white collar crimes, which are crimes commonly associated with finance or the government.

1. Fraud: Whenever a person, business, or organization uses deception to achieve ill-gotten gains. This can mean lying about a product, falsifying records, or simply lying about factual events.

2. Embezzlement: Whenever someone uses money or property entrusted to them for something other than intended. The go to example is a government official overpaying for a government contract and pocketing the extra money.

3. Tax evasion: Illegally avoiding paying taxes. This can be done by undervaluing a property or underreporting profits/wages.

4. Bribery: Exchanging something valuable for a preferable outcome in a way that is unfair or unjust. For example, giving a government official money to make a specific choice or ruling.

5. Insider trading: Trading stock based on confidential information that is not available to anyone else. For example, a manager at a company knows that the upcoming sales numbers will tank their stock price, so that manager sells off all their stock in anticipation.

Money laundering has become more common likely due to the rise of the internet and internet-connected services. It is simple to search through Google to find step-by-step guides (wildly ranging in accuracy, sometimes just fake) on how to launder money in a multitude of ways. This quick access to illicit information means that just about anyone with internet access can learn how to do it.

The finance industry itself has become more difficult to regulate as the mechanisms behind new financial systems can be so complicated that they require extensive research and knowledge to understand. Some smart people figured out how to code bots to trade stocks algorithmically faster than any human ever could. The SEC had to implement some controls to limit the speed at which stocks could be traded. The way that the bots work is technically complicated and the average person (as well as politician) is not likely to understand it. This makes it hard to regulate or to generate support in regulating. The power and ease of implementation of these new tools can make committing white collar crime easier.