White collar crimes happen all the time, and sometimes they happen on a very grand scale. When the people or organizations that committed these large-scale crimes get caught, the case tends to get featured across all the national news networks. In the text that follows, we’ll examine three such high-profile white-collar crime cases that were very big news in the not-so-distant past:
Credit Suisse and tax avoidance crimes
In 2014, Credit Suisse, a multi-billion-dollar financial institution, pleaded guilty to assisting its U.S.-based customers in avoiding taxes. The bank helped Americans hide their income from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Credit Suisse paid a total of $2.6 billion in penalties because of the crime.
Bank of America’s mortgage-backed securities scam
In 2014, Bank of America admitted to the scam of selling off billions of dollars’ worth of mortgage-backed securities tied to properties that had inflated values. Bank of America’s actions in this regard helped cause the 2008 financial collapse. The bank paid $16.65 billion to compensate for its unlawful deeds.
Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme
The Ponzi scheme led by Bernie Madoff cost his faithful investors $65 billion in losses. It also cost Madoff his freedom, as he was sentenced to serve 150 years in prison. For years, Madoff paid off new investors with the money he received from old investors, but eventually, the Ponzi scheme could no longer support itself and it imploded. That’s when Madoff’s fraud was revealed.
Not everyone accused of a white collar crime is guilty of the offense. If you’re facing criminal charges relating to financial fraud or some other kind of white collar offense, take care to plan an appropriate and strategic criminal defense.