Corporate Crimes
Atlanta, Georgia Corporate Crimes AttorneyFederal Corporate Fraud investigations and prosecutions typically involve the following activities:
The attorneys at The Federal Law Group have successfully represented clients charged with corporate crimes, and can help you if you are facing similar charges. Below is an excerpt from an article written by attorney Ann Fitz , and published by ICLE of Georgia: What is Corporate Crime? The term "corporate crime" refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation. The imposition of criminal liability is a means of regulating corporations. This can also be accomplished through civil law remedies such as the issuance of an injunction or the award of damages. Generally, criminal sanctions include imprisonment, fines and community service orders. Because a corporation has no physical existence, and therefore cannot legally form the requisite criminal intent for liability, it can only act vicariously through the agency of the individuals it employs. Thus, while it is relatively commonplace for individuals who commit crimes to be punished accordingly, the extent to which a corporation should incur liability is less clear. Since a corporation cannot be sent to jail, punishment is often in the form of a fine, which diminishes both the money available to pay the wages and salaries of its employees, and the profits available to pay its shareholders. Corporate crime is usually characterized as either white-collar crime, because the majority of individuals who represent the interests of the corporation are employees or professionals of a higher social class, or as organized crime, because criminals can set up corporations either for the purposes of crime or as vehicles for laundering the proceeds of crime. An Overview of Corporate Liability Most corporate crime is a breach of both criminal and civil law, and any evidence obtained for the purposes of a criminal trial is usually admissible in civil proceedings. Criminal prosecutions take priority, so if civil proceedings uncover evidence of criminality, the civil action may be stayed pending the outcome of any criminal investigation. Corporate crime typically falls into the following categories of white-collar crime: fraud, antitrust, environmental, financial crimes, campaign finance, obstruction of justice, bribery, public corruption, and tax evasion. While each category holds significant convictions and sentences against corporations, the focus of this section will be on fraudulent corporate crime, for purposes of discussing general post-Enron trends. Why is Corporate Crime so Prevalent? The majority of corporate crimes are committed because the offender has the right opportunity, i.e., the offender simply sees the chance and thinks that he or she will be able to commit the crime and not be detected. For the most part, greed, rather than conceit, is the motive, and the rationalization for choosing to break the law usually arises out of a form of contempt for the corporation, namely that it will be powerless to prevent the crime, and has it coming for some reason. For these purposes, the corporation is the vehicle for the crime. To schedule a free initial consultation, call us today. |
