This book outlines the theory of convenience for white-collar crime to explain what motivates and enables offenders, providing a unique focus on white-collar crime in the business context. The theory of convenience suggests that the extent to which elite members commit and conceal economic crime is dependent on their extent of orientation towards convenience in problematic and attractive situations. Chapters are organized along the main theoretical dimensions of economical motive, organizational opportunity, and personal willingness. In addition, this book: Addresses a business audience by focusing on themes familiar to corporations Documents attitudes towards white-collar crime among business students and future business leaders Analyzes how convenience orientation varies among individuals Analyzes autobiographies of convicted white-collar offenders Demonstrates the various ways in which white-collar crime occurs The Convenience of White-Collar Crime in Business contributes to an increased understanding of white-collar crime, offering valuable insight in business education that supplements the traditional roles of topics like auditing and compliance in education and practice. It is a useful resource for researchers and law enforcement, and those involved in the detection, prosecution, and conviction of white-collar offenders.

The ‘convenience triangle’ is the dynamic relationship between motive, opportunity, and willingness to commit a crime, which culminates in the illegal acts which constitute white-collar crime. This book aims to discuss the role of the ‘convenience triangle’ in white-collar crime, how it affects the perpetration of these crimes, the impact of this on detection and prevention and the effects of the punitive measures taken against white-collar criminals.

This book examines internal fraud investigations in public and private organizations. It provides a theoretical framework of white-collar crime and convenience theory, to examine a number of case studies, including some cases brought to light by the Panama Papers. Investigating white-collar crime is distinguished from other types of crime by: concealment of the crime rather than the criminal, victims who may be unaware of the crime and not directly visible to the criminal, and the resources available to suspects. It requires a unique strategy and a unique set of tools. This work provides insight into a number of internal investigation reports that are normally not publicly available. It will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in white collar crime and corruption, as well as related fields such as business, management, economics, and public administration.

This book introduces a dynamic perspective to study white-collar crime. It argues that as personal motives change over time, so too do organizational opportunities, and willingness for deviant behavior. The work contends that the extent of white-collar crime is dependent on the extent of crime convenience perceived and preferred by potential offenders. It discusses how potential white-collar offenders expand organizational opportunities for financial crime over time. The dynamics are illustrated here by system dynamics models to capture cause and effect relationships. The book also presents a new structural model illustrating the elements of convenience theory along with a new dynamic model illustrating the evolution of white-collar crime. The practical aspects are illustrated with a number of case studies. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and professionals working in the areas of Criminal Justice, Criminology, Criminal Law and Business Studies.

Traditionally, corporate control is all about top-down approaches to management of employees. Executives attempt to influence employees toward achieving business goals, and they attempt to prevent and detect wrongdoing, misconduct, and crime among employees. However, top-down approaches to corporate control do not work when executives and other privileged individuals in the business themselves commit and conceal their wrongdoing, misconduct, and crime in organizational settings. Then there is a need for a bottom-up approach in corporate control as outlined in this book. Bottom-up control refers to the manner in which organizational members can use different types of control mechanisms – such as whistleblowing, transparency, resource access, or culture – to monitor, measure, and evaluate executives’ avoidance of deviant behaviors and influence them toward achieving the organization’s goals in efficient and effective ways. The newly emerging perspective of a social license to operate forms part of the bottom-up strategy where criminalization becomes social property independent of the criminal justice system. The social license is predominantly centered on social permission for business activity where the media, social movements, and citizen watchdogs exert pressure, demand change, and bring top management to account. This book presents a novel approach to corporate control of white-collar crime based on the theory of convenience. White-collar crime is financial crime committed by privileged individuals who have legitimate access to resources based on the power and trust inherent through their professional positions. Convenience theory proposes that motive, opportunity, and willingness are the three dimensions that underlie white-collar crime in an organizational context. This book contributes to the study of white-collar criminality through a blend of theoretical discussions and practical materials that illuminate and support the use of convenience theory. The book discusses how bottom-up approaches can overcome the difficulty of detecting white-collar crime and overcome the barriers of preventing executive deviance.

By examining white-collar crime scandals using the theory of convenience, Petter Gottschalk offers ways to improve the detection of crime signals and investigative skills in fraud examinations, as well as improve change management measures.

As documented in a number of case studies (from Telia Telecom in Sweden to Wirecard in Germany) in this book, recidivism seems to be of a substantial magnitude in corporate crime. Corporations tend to repeat white-collar offenses such as financial crime and environmental crime in various forms as long as they find it convenient. A minor fine from time to time and dismissal of some executives as scapegoats do not prevent corporations from committing and concealing new offenses as long as there is a convenient financial motive, a convenient organizational opportunity, and a convenient willingness for deviant behavior. Businesses and their executives tend to be recidivists who get away with light punishment in most jurisdictions. The relevant audiences for this book include law students, business students, sociology students, and criminology students. Fraud examiners, defense attorneys, compliance officers, police investigators, as well as prosecutors can find the structural model of convenience to be an ideal template in preparing corporate crime case narratives.

Insider trading. Savings and loan scandals. Enron. Corporate crimes were once thought of as victimless offenses, but now—with billions of dollars and an increasingly global economy at stake—this is understood to be far from the truth. The International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime explores the complex interplay of factors involved when corporate cultures normalize lawbreaking, and when organizational behavior is pushed to unethical (and sometimes inhumane) limits. Featuring original contributions from a panel of experts representing North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia, this timely volume presents multidisciplinary views on recent corporate wrongdoing affecting economic and social conditions worldwide. Criminal liability and intent Stock market and financial crime Bribery and extortion Computer and identity fraud Health care fraud Crime in the professions Industrial pollution Political corruption War crimes and genocide Contributors offer case studies, historical and sociopolitical analyses, theoretical and legal perspectives, and comparative studies, featuring examples as varied as NASA, Parmalat, the Italian government, and Watergate. Criminal justice responses to these phenomena, the role of the media in exposing or minimizing them, prevention, regulation, and self- policing strategies, and larger global issues emerging from economic crime are also featured. Richly diverse in its coverage, The International Handbook of White-Collar and Corporate Crime is stimulating reading for students, academics, and professionals in a wide range of fields, from criminology and criminal justice to business and economics, psychology to social policy to ethics. This powerful information is certain to change many of our deeply held views on criminal behavior.

This book reviews a range of reports written by fraud examiners after completing internal investigations. These reports are normally kept secret and are the property of client organizations, which do not wish to disclose potential wrongdoing that can harm the reputation of the businesses. Fraud Examinations in White-Collar Crime Investigations was able to retrieve several recent reports, including foreign aid kickbacks, Russian favors to the Biathlon president, and Leon Black’s deals with Jeffrey Epstein. While not claiming that the obtained reports are representative for the outcome of the private investigation industry, the reports do provide insights into the variety of issues that fraud examiners address in their internal investigations and the quality of their work. This book identifies convenience themes and assesses investigation maturity across the reports analyzed. It considers the motives of and opportunities for white-collar criminals, as well as their willingness to engage in unlawful activity, and assesses to what extent fraud examiners are either efficient or deficient in their work. A compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, law, and politics, and all those interested in fraud examinations in relation to white-collar crime.