White Collar Crime

September 11, 2017

This month's Science Café takes a closer look at white collar crime and what it takes to bring justice to these criminals. The books below are just a small sample of what's available at Cleveland Public Library to provide a wider perspective on this aspect of crime and punishment. Click the titles to link to the library's catalog to place a hold or to get additional information.

Non-fiction

Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff by Edward Balleisen (2017)
- Starting with an early nineteenth-century American legal world of "buyer beware," this unprecedented account describes the slow, piecemeal construction of modern regulatory institutions to protect consumers and investors, from the Gilded Age through the New Deal and the Great Society. It concludes with the more recent era of deregulation, which has brought with it a spate of costly frauds, including the savings and loan crisis, corporate accounting scandals, and the recent mortgage-marketing debacle.
The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History by David Enrich (2017)
- The Wall Street Journal's award-winning business reporter unveils the bizarre and sinister story of how a math genius named Tom Hayes, a handful of outrageous confederates, and a deeply corrupt banking system ignited one of the greatest financial scandals in history.
Understanding White-collar Crime: A Convenience Perspective by Petter Gottschalk (2017)
- Understanding White-Collar Crime: A Convenience Perspective examines not only the theories behind white-collar crime, but also explores methods used in criminal justice investigations into corporate fraud, and emphasizes the importance of corporate social responsibility in reducing crimes of this nature."
Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar (2017)
- A New York Times Bestseller! Black Edge offers a revelatory look at the gray zone in which so much of Wall Street functions, and a window into the transformation of the U.S. economy. It's a riveting, true-life legal thriller that takes readers inside the government's pursuit of billionaire trader Steven A. Cohen and his employees at his hedge fund, SAC Capital, and raises urgent questions about the power and wealth of those who sit at the pinnacle of modern Wall Street.
White-collar Crime: The Essentials by Brian K. Payne (2017)
- Payne explores such timely topics as crimes by workers, sales-oriented systems, crimes in the health care system, crimes by criminal justice professionals and politicians, crimes in the educational system, crimes in economic and technological systems, corporate crime, environmental crime, and more.
Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America's Corporate Age by Samuel Buell (2016)
- If "corporations are people too," why isn't anyone in jail? A serious defect in a GM car causes accidents; Enron scams investors out of their money; banks bet on the housing market crash and win. In the race to maximize profits, corporations can behave in ways that are morally outrageous but technically legal. In Capital Offenses, Samuel Buell draws on the unique pairing of his expertise as a Duke University law professor and his personal experience leading the investigation into Enron--the biggest white-collar crime case in U.S. history--to present an in-depth examination of business crime today.
Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-collar Criminal by Eugene Soltes (2016)
- From the financial fraudsters of Enron, to the embezzlers at Tyco, to the insider traders at McKinsey, to the Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, the failings of corporate titans are regular fixtures in the news. But what drives wealthy and powerful people to white-collar crime? Harvard Business School professor Eugene Soltes draws from extensive personal interaction and correspondence with nearly fifty former executives as well as the latest research in psychology, criminology, and economics to investigate how once-celebrated executives become white-collar criminals.
The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana Henriques (2011)
- A true-life financial thriller, The Wizard of Lies contrasts Madoff's remarkable rise on Wall Street, where he became one of the country's most trusted and respected traders, with dramatic scenes from his accelerating slide toward self-destruction. It is also the most complete account of the heartbreaking personal disasters and landmark legal battles triggered by Madoff's downfall - the suicides, business failures, fractured families, shuttered charities - and the clear lessons this timeless scandal offers to Washington, Wall Street, and Main Street. (Book jacket)
Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend by Mitchell Zuckoff (2005)
- You've heard of the scheme. Now comes the man behind it. In Mitchell Zuckoff's exhilarating book, the first nonfiction account of Charles Ponzi, we meet the charismatic rogue who launched the most famous and extraordinary scam in the annals of American finance.In Zuckoff's hands, Ponzi is no mere swindler; instead he is appealing and magnetic, a colorful and poignant figure, someone who struggled his whole life to attain great wealth and who sincerely believed--to the very end--that he could have made good on his investment promises if only he'd had enough time.

Government Information Resources

What We Investigate: White Collar Crime - Webpage of the FBI explaining their investigation of white-collar crime.
- "Reportedly coined in 1939, the term white-collar crime is now synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. These crimes are characterized by deceit, concealment, or violation of trust and are not dependent on the application or threat of physical force or violence. The motivation behind these crimes is financial—to obtain or avoid losing money, property, or services or to secure a personal or business advantage. These are not victimless crimes. A single scam can destroy a company, devastate families by wiping out their life savings, or cost investors billions of dollars (or even all three). Today’s fraud schemes are more sophisticated than ever, and the FBI is dedicated to using its skills to track down the culprits and stop scams before they start." (from the webpage)
State And Local White Collar Crime Program: State Regulatory Agency Statutes For Selected Offenses (Volume I And II) from the Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Examines how all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories handled regulatory functions in four offense categories: banking and finance, environmental, worker safety, and Medicaid fraud. Volume I provides a series of tables of statutes authorizing regulatory enforcement options and compares each under the administrative, civil, and criminal categories of enforcement. Volume II describes the purpose of the statutes and enforcement options authorized by the statutes. Both reports reflect relevant statutes as of October 2016. Findings were based on an online review of state laws, as part of the 2014 State and Local White Collar Crime Program.
2016 Internet Crime Report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
- Annual reports going back to 2001 are available online by clicking here.
HEALTH CARE FRAUD: Information on Most Common Schemes and the Likely Effect of Smart Cards from the United States Government Accountability Office (Report to Congressional Requesters) (2016)

Cleveland Public Library - Main Library - 325 Superior Ave - Cleveland, Ohio 44114 - 216-623-2800

Google Sites

Report abuse