Category Archives: Crime

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The 3 Most Curious Claims

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As an editor of a publication, I get a lot of emails that don’t amount to much — mostly press releases. But every once in a while, there is a gem in a pile of useless information. Today, I found a gem. The following are the three most curious claims as reported by Mercury Insurance’s Special Investigations Unit:

  1. A Shot in the Dark — An LAPD gang detective reported his expensive BMW stolen from a Los Angeles-area strip mall. Police responded quickly, but became suspicious when the detective’s nephew arrived on scene seconds later to give him a ride home. Doubts deepened when the detective suffered a mysterious gunshot wound shortly after they theft. He alleged the shooting and theft were gang retaliation for his work fighting gang crime in the city, but the real story turned out to be quite different. LAPD and Mercury’s SIU were able to prove the detective orchestrated everything, including the shooting, in an attempt to defraud Mercury out of thousands of dollars. The investigation revealed the detective was more than $1 million in debt and he faked the carjacking to collect on his insurance policy. He then shot himself trying to bolster his disintegrating story, but later pled guilty to all charges and was sentenced to prison. His claim was denied.
  2. Oscar-Worthy…Not So Much — The insured’s car lightly collided with a stationary public bus. The much larger bus didn’t budge and no damage occurred to either vehicle, though one woman onboard claimed she suffered significant neck and back injuries. The SIU went to work investigating this injury claim and uncovered video footage of what transpired.
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      You be the judge:  (click here to watch the video). That flop puts soccer players to shame. No surprise, her suit was dismissed by the court.

  3. Let It Burn — The insured owned a $160,000 motor home and was having trouble selling it. Conveniently, it became the target of an arsonist – setting up the insured for a major payday. Think that sounds a bit too good to be true? So did investigators. The arsonist, who turned out to be the insured’s next door neighbor, was severely burned during the crime and quickly arrested. SIU investigators then obtained the name of a middleman, a 22-year-old friend of the insured, who hired the arsonist. Prior to any interrogation, though, he died in a suspicious motorcycle accident following a night of drinking with, you guessed it, the insured. As SIU’s investigation continued, the arsonist was handed a 16-year prison sentence. While serving time, his recorded prison phone calls implicated the insured as the architect of the crime and the ploy was exposed. The insured received a hefty prison sentence and his claim was…denied.
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“I’m continually amazed by some people’s brazen, foolish attempts to cheat the system,” said Dan Bales, Mercury’s national director of special investigations.

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Brazen and foolish seem like a bit of an understatement.

We’re Unethical and We Know It

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The financial industry has never been known for its saint-like ways or its steely moral compass, especially in the wake of this most recent financial crisis. But a new survey reveals startling data not only about the level of unethical behavior within the industry, but also about individuals’ unwillingness to do anything about it.

The study, “Wall Street, Fleet Street and Main Street: Corporate Integrity at a Crossroads,” by Labaton Sucharow LLP, found the following:

  • 24% of respondents reported a belief that financial services professionals may need to engage in unethical or illegal conduct in order to be successful
  • 26% of respondents indicated that they had observed or had firsthand knowledge of wrongdoing in the workplace
  • 39% of respondents reported that their competitors are likely to have engaged in illegal or unethical activity in order to be successful
  • 30% of respondents reported their compensation or bonus plan created pressure to compromise ethical standards or violate the law, while 23% of respondents reported other pressures that may lead to unethical or illegal conduct
  • 30% of respondents feel that the SEC/SFO effectively deters, investigates and prosecutes misconduct—despite the new leadership, record enforcement actions and new reforms; 29% of respondents feel the same way about FINRA/FSA
  • And most troubling, 16% of respondents reported that they would commit a crime—insider trading—if they could get away with it

“It is shocking that four years after the global economic crisis began there continues to be a fundamental lack of integrity in the financial services industry,” said Chris Keller, partner and head of case development at Labaton Sucharow.

But this study does more than point out moral deficiencies plaguing the industry; it highlights the importance of the SEC Whistleblower Program, which is authorized to provide monetary rewards to those who come forward with “high quality, original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action in which over $1,000,000 in sanctions is ordered.” Eligible whistleblowers usually receive between 10 and 30% of the money collected.

The survey, however, found that only 44% of respondents were aware of this program.

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In addition, one in five of the professionals surveyed weren’t sure of, or had serious doubts about, how their employers would handle a report of wrongdoing.

Based on this report, it seems we have a long way to go in terms of education, integrity and confidence in employers.

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Organizations Lose an Estimated 5% of Annual Revenues to Fraud

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There’s no doubt fraud, committed by both external and internal parties, is on the rise as methods for committing theft become more available and easier to hide due to technology. And according to a recent survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, businesses around the world lose an estimated 5% of their annual revenues to fraud, for a total loss of more than $3.5 trillion.

The 2012 “Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud & Abuse” found the following:

  • Fraud schemes are extremely costly. The median loss caused by the occupational fraud cases in the study was $140,000. More than one-fifth of these cases caused losses of at least $1 million.
  • Schemes can continue for months or even years before they are detected. The frauds in the study lasted a median of 18 months before being caught.
  • Tips are key in detecting fraud. Occupational fraud is more likely to be detected by a tip than by any other method. The majority of tips reporting fraud come from employees of the victim organization.
  • Occupational fraud is a global problem. Though some findings differ slightly from region to region, most of the trends in fraud schemes, perpetrator characteristics and anti-fraud controls are similar regardless of where the fraud occurred.
  • High-level perpetrators do the most damage. The median loss among frauds committed by owner/executives was $573,000, the median loss caused by managers was $180,000 and the median loss caused by employees was $60,000.
  • Small businesses face increased risk. The smallest organizations in the study suffered the largest median losses. These organizations typically employ fewer anti-fraud controls than their larger counterparts, which increases their vulnerability to fraud.

The report goes on to break down occupational frauds by category, duration of fraud based on scheme type, size of victim organization and initial detection of occupational frauds. Here is the breakdown in graphical form:

The full report can be downloaded here.

What’s Next for Walmart

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In the wake of the massive bribery scheme that allegedly allowed one of the world’s largest companies to expand throughout Mexico and dominate its retail industry, many are left wondering what will happen next to Walmart.

The Week has a few ideas of what’s possible:

  1. U.S. authorities will go after Walmart aggressively 
The Justice Department may treat the Walmart scandal as “a prominent case to demonstrate the need for vigorous enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” which prohibits U.S. corporations from bribing foreign officials, says Peter J. Henning at The New York Times. The government encourages American companies to disclose possible violations of the law, and rewards their honesty by reducing fines and dropping criminal charges. If the Justice Department finds that Walmart did cover up the scheme, it could come down even harder on the retailer.
  2. The investigation could spread to other countries 
Walmart “faces an uphill battle to convince U.S. regulators that its problems are confined to Mexico,” say Jessica Wohl and Carlyn Kolker at Reuters. Walmart has major operations in Brazil and China, and is banking on emerging markets in India and Africa to boost its profits in the coming decades. A wide-ranging global investigation, which could last as long as four years, will likely hamper its overseas growth.
  3. Executives could face dismissal and even prison
Walmart will likely face “pressure from shareholders to take action against any executives who didn’t act on the bribery allegations sooner,” say David Welch and Thom Weidlich at Bloomberg News. Indeed, cleaning house could be a prerequisite for any out-of-court settlement with the U.S. authorities. And experts aren’t ruling out “potential jail time for Walmart executives,” says Roland Jones at MSNBC.
  4. Congress will get involved 
Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) have already announced that they are launching an investigation into the scandal, requesting a face-to-face meeting with CEO Duke and other Walmart officials so that they “can respond to these allegations.”
  5. Walmart stocks are being hammered… 
Walmart’s share price fell by 5% the day after the story broke, as investors weighed the numerous factors that could hurt Walmart in the future, such as large legal fees and stunted international growth.
  6. …And so is its reputation — perhaps most damaging of all is the public relations hit the company is taking. This is a “huge black eye” for Walmart, “which prides itself on its reputation for integrity and transparency,” says Henry Blodget at Business Insider. The report undermines a years-long “campaign to improve its reputation as a good corporate citizen by changing its practices in such areas as labor relations,” says Ben W. Heneman Jr. at The Atlantic.
  7. Still, Walmart could fight back with legal technicalities 
The retail giant could argue that the bribes were “facilitating payments,” which, for example, are made to speed up the approval of permits, says Nathan Vardi at Forbes, and that such payments are technically legal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Because the alleged bribery scheme unfolded in the mid-2000s, Walmart could also foil the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute, by invoking the FCPA’s five-year statute of limitations.

That’s a pretty good summation of what’s likely to occur. But let’s not forget about the questions this event has has raised regarding Dodd Frank and the FCPA. Does the Dodd Frank act’s whistleblower provision apply to foreigners? And can foreigners qualify as eligible whistleblowers under the FCPA and, in turn, qualify for a monetary reward? There is a definite grey area in terms of both acts and it remains to be seen if this Walmart event will clear up anything.