History Main / WhiteCollarCrime

* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'': In an issue of ''Bartman'', Bart and Milhouse see Comic Book Guy selling a recent issue of ''Radioctive Man'', which they bought at regular price, selling at a mark up of several thousand percent. When they ask why it's so expensive, Comic Book Guy says that it is one of a few dozen that does not have the publisher's metallic logo. As Bartman, Bart discovers that Jimbo, Kearny, and Dolph are part of a scam at a particular paper mill that purposefully misprints a small number of issues so that they can be sold at an astronomic mark up.

** Labor racketeering has always been a mainstay for the Mafia. A big reason why unions are viewed suspiciously (egged on by right-wing anti-labor politicians and businesses) and why Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in 1970 is mob involvement in this racket. Once the Mafia took over a union, they essentially ran everything and [[StealingFromTheTill robbed worker benefit plans]] to line up their wallets; they also forced companies to hire only mob-controlled workers and provide "consulting" jobs to "no-show" mafiosi under pain of labor slowdowns and ominous threats of violence. Food services, construction, transportation, clothing and garbage hauling were some of the industries prone to labor racketeering.

* Most {{Ponzi Scheme}}s go bust after a short time. Bernie Madoff was different because of the size and surprising stability he operated for ''many years'' by simply promising moderate but reliable rates of return. It went unnoticed by the SEC despite pleas from IgnoredExpert Harry Markopolos, who doubted Madoff's numbers. Madoff managed to keep it up until the 2008 recession, at which the Ponzi imploded when people demanded their monies.[[note]]Madoff managed about $65 billion on paper. What he ''really'' had that year was $5 billion in a slush fund, from which he paid the occasional withdrawal[[/note]] That Madoff was chummy with regulators and Jewish charities shocked many, as his family donated generously to them for years and he himself pioneered the trading technology that was later used to develop the NASDAQ, of which he was chairman of at one point. At least five suicides have been attributed to his crime (including his son Mark in 2010; his sister Sondra and brother-in-law Marvin in 2022), and earned old Bernie a [[LongerThanLifeSentence century and a half]] in the can despite his [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone genuine regret and subsequent apology,]] as well as an attempt to get him a much more reasonable sentence of seven years due to his advanced age. Madoff even attempted to have then-President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump pardon him in 2019, but Trump ignored it given the severity of Madoff's crimes. An attempt at a compassionate release after it was revealed that he was terminally ill with chronic kidney disease also failed. Madoff ultimately died in prison from the disease on April 14, 2021.

* Theranos was touted by Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes as a breakthrough healthtech company with its claims of a highly accurate blood test system that required only small drops of blood. This made her a paper billionaire who aspired to become the medical devices industry's Steve Jobs by persuading Creator/FoxCorporation CEO UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch, the Walton family (owners of Walmart), and Tim Draper to invest in her company. Holmes's downfall came through in 2015 when Stanford medical professor John Ioannidis and ''The Wall Street Journal'' investigative journalist John Carreyrou[[note]]who went on to write [[Literature/BadBlood a book]] detailing the downfall[[/note]] exposed Theranos's deceptive practices to the public, causing it to collapse overnight and earn the ire of regulators despite Holmes's attempts to strongarm Carreyou and Ioannidis with legal threats. Holmes ultimately earned an 11-year sentence in 2022 for wire fraud, while her ex-boyfriend and former president Sunny Balwani was sentenced to 13 years. Holmes's actions have been the subject of documentary ''Film/TheInventorOutForBloodInSiliconValley'' and was fictionalized in the TV series ''Series/TheDropout''.

* A spate of American companies bribing foreign government officials to obtain favorable contracts in the 1970s (notably the Lockheed bribery scandal and Bananagate) led to the passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1978. These revelations caused major shakeups and political crises in various countries, along with the .

Wage theft. Fraud. Bribery. {{Ponzi}} schemes. Insider trading. Labor racketeering. Embezzlement. Cybercrime. UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} infringement. Money laundering. Identity theft. Forgery. Cooking the books. According with Website/ThatOtherWiki, these are all white-collar crimes, the sort executed by well-educated executives, lawyers, or business people. In place of the guns and knives used by street criminals, white collar criminals use front organizations, laptops, forged documents and [[TheCon scams]] to steal money and other assets in a systematic and large-scale way.

* Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had a glowing reputation as a techbro to the point that FTX Trading became the third largest cryptocurrency exchange. That all changed in 2022 after he was accused of running a {{Ponzi}} scheme by stealing up to $10 billion from clients to binge-spend and hide the debts of another firm he owned, triggering the equivalent of a crypto bank run. SBF even tried [[NeverMyFault blaming]] his employees and hightailing to the Bahamas, but was sent back and received a 25-year sentence. FTX's bankruptcy indirectly led to the collapse of crypto-friendly banks such as Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank in early 2023 due to a lax regulatory environment. SBF is also facing a related trial in early 2024 on allegations he bribed Chinese government officials to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to his hedge fund in Hong Kong.

* Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had a glowing reputation as a techbro to the point that FTX Trading became the third largest cryptocurrency exchange. That all changed in 2022 after he was accused of running a {{Ponzi}} scheme by stealing up to $10 billion from clients to binge-spend and hide the debts of another firm he owned, triggering the equivalent of a crypto bank run. SBF even tried [[NeverMyFault blaming]] his employees and hightailing to the Bahamas, but was sent back and now faces a life sentence. FTX's bankruptcy indirectly led to the collapse of crypto-friendly banks such as Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank in early 2023 due to a lax regulatory environment. SBF is also facing a related trial in early 2024 on allegations he bribed Chinese government officials to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to his hedge fund in Hong Kong.

* The famed computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, in his autobiography Ghost in the Wires, describes the surreal feeling of being the only white-collar criminal in a juvenile hall full of murderers and rapists after one of his earliest arrests.

Wage theft. Fraud. Bribery. {{Ponzi}} schemes. Insider trading. Labor racketeering. Embezzlement. Cybercrime. UsefulNotes/{{Copyright}} infringement. Money laundering. Identity theft. Forgery. Cooking the books. According with Website/ThatOtherWiki, these are all white-collar crimes, the sort executed by a well-educated executives, lawyers, or business people. In place of the guns and knives used by street criminals, white collar criminals use front organizations, laptops, forged documents and [[TheCon scams]] to steal money and other assets in a systematic and large-scale way.

* Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had a glowing reputation as a techbro to the point that FTX Trading became the third largest crypto exchange. That all changed in 2022 after he was accused of running a {{Ponzi}} scheme by stealing up to $10 billion from clients to binge-spend and hide the debts of another firm he owned, triggering the equivalent of a cryptocurrency bank run. SBF even tried [[NeverMyFault blaming]] his employees and hightailing to the Bahamas, but was deported back and now faces a life sentence. FTX's bankruptcy indirectly led to the collapse of crypto-friendly banks such as Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank in early 2023 due to a lax regulatory environment. SBF is also facing a related trial in early 2024 on allegations he bribed Chinese government officials to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to his hedge fund in Hong Kong.

* ''Film/BoilerRoom'' focuses on dishonest sales tactics and shysters offering deals TooGoodToBeTrue to [[TheCon unsuspecting investors]], who are too willing to make a quick buck on the stock market. The marks are unaware it's a "pump-and-dump" scam, where the operators create fake demand for these phony companies and penny stocks before dumping their holdings so the stock price crashes. Even the protagonist is unaware of J.T. Marlin's shady rep. [[spoiler:He only realizes it's a con when he snoops around to check the firm's records. Wracked with guilt, he decides to shut down the firm for good by cooperating with the FBI in exchange for a light sentence]].

** This is the case of crimes committed by Mr. Burns to satisfy his greed.

** There have been instances in which Mr. Krabs has committed multiple acts of corporate corruption to increase his fortune.
** Like his archnemesis, Plankton is not above of cheating, fraud, or sabotage to defeat his rival.

* ''Film/BoilerRoom'' focuses on dishonest sales tactics and shady firms offering deals TooGoodToBeTrue to [[TheCon unsuspecting investors]]. The investors are too willing to make a quick buck on the stock market. They're unaware it's a "pump-and-dump" scam, where the operators create artificial demand for these phony companies before dumping their holdings so the stock price crashes. Even the protagonist is unaware that the firm he's working for is in fact fraudulent. [[spoiler:He only realizes it's a con when he snoops around to check the firm's records. Wracked with guilt, he decides to shut down the firm for good by cooperating with the FBI in exchange for a light sentence]].

* ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'' is based on the memoir of white collar criminal Jordan Belfort, whose firm Stratton Oakmont used [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_and_dump/ "pump-and-dump"]] schemes to defraud investors in the 1990's.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' dealt with someone murdered while engaged in corporate espionage.