4-1 Discussion: Criminal Responsibility

To complete this discussion, please base your work on Enron, WorldCom, or another white collar crime story of your choosing.

• Name the company you selected and briefly summarize the crime.
• Do you think that the CEOs and other corporate officers involved were justly held criminally responsible or not? Explain your perspective.
• Do you believe that business can regulate itself to act ethically, or is government oversight a necessity to protect the public from financial wrongdoing? Explain your position.

Respond to at least two of your peers who focused on a company other than the one you selected. Offer your own perspectives on whether the CEOs and other corporate officers involved were justly held criminally responsible or not.

 

Discussion

Different organizations have faced problems related to white-collar crime, from which one of the most significant examples is WorldCom. The frauds done by some employees of WorldCom are considered as the biggest fraud in American bankruptcy. The research has claimed that the telecommunication company that went bankrupt in 2002 faced massive and significant accounting fraud. According to my perspective, CEOs and other corporate officers were also involved in the fraud because this fraud was on a massive level. The history of America related to white-collar crime became disturbed due to this fraud which showed that different people, especially those working on the upper level, were involved in this fraud. The research has claimed that different names involved in this fraud are still unknown and are not being exposed.

The organization's chief executive has blamed the former chief financial officer and former controller for doing the fraud at this massive level. These two employees were fired from the organization for claiming $3.8bn in their regular expenses in the form of capital investment in 2001. I have analyzed from this case and various other white-collar criminal cases that the government should take steps to protect the public from financial wrongdoing to maintain the system within the community. The organizations cannot manage all the systems related to finance, due to which political problems are also being increased. Therefore, the government needs to implement certain laws to reduce the chances of errors because it can also enhance the country's economic development (Leap, 2018).