Three white collar criminals that got away with it

By Peter Wendt

White-Collar crime is distinguished by avaricious corporations and businessmen who twist financial laws. Although it isn't common, there are those who contort the rules so much that they get off nearly scot-free. This is even after the full extent of their scheme has been found out. Here are three financial entities who managed to steal nearly unfathomable sums of money and got away with it.

1. Jerome Kerviel: Kerviel was a junior futures trader at French bank Société Générale who seemed to be working profitably in consideration of the faltering economic climate. He was making a substantial profit for a regular number of clientele while, admittedly, losing a little here and there. Losing is an integral part of the game however, so the alarms hadn't been tripped yet. Yet the losing was one part of concealing Kerviel's scheme. He was trading vast amounts of sums with unauthorized transactions and using some of the "losses" as a cover. He was eventually caught, however, because of how carefully he tried to cover his tracks. He would routinely send fake e-mails and manipulate client log-in information to maintain the air of legitimacy. The bank eventually discovered that there was no trace of him actually receiving the messages through their archives. After making nearly 5 billion dollars in profit, Kerviel was the subject of a civil suit and banned from trading. He has not, as of yet, had any criminal charges pressed against him.
 
2. Chambers Funeral Home: Maryland, as with any other state in the union, has a number of legitimate funeral homes. These places are charged with caring for the body of the deceased and funeary arrangements. Because they are a business (however morbid), they do charge enough to turn a profit. At least with most, families can be assured that their loved ones are treated with respect and dignity. Except for the Chambers Funeral Home, which was storing bodies illegally while reaping the profits of "cremating" them. The literal stacks of 40 bodies were discovered during a routine inspection. A number of the corpses were donated to universities, but all were have supposed to have been cremated. As a result for both stealing the funds from grieving families and desecrating the bodies of the deceased, the funeral home merely had its license suspended. Which, it should be noted, isn't necessarily permanent. It can still be renewed by the State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors.
 
3. The Royal Bank of Scotland: After the September 11th attacks, the United States Government has been setting tighter controls on its financial institutions. These reforms were so that enemies of the state wouldn't be able to launder their money in the US banking system. The Royal Bank of Scotland is one of several that the United States regulates to ensure that its funds aren't being used by enemies of the state. Except this is exactly what the Royal Bank of Scotland did; hand out funds to enemies of the state such as Libya, Cuba, and Sudan. Records show that they had been doing this from as far back as 2005. One New York branch has been confirmed to have distributed 3.2 billion dollars. No criminal charges were pressed; the bank managed to settle the numerous charges with a 500 million dollar settlement.

Peter Wendt is a freelance writer and researcher living in Texas.  For the past year he has been intensely researching the rise of White Collar Crime in America over the past couple decades.  If you are interested in the subject, he highly recommends consulting these Criminal Attorneys in Philadelphia, who are extremely experienced in the realm of White Collar Crime Defense.