Week 5: Criminal Fraud and the Law

Week 5: Criminal Fraud and the Law

(Team, 2023)
Boards of directors and CEOs shouldn’t be accountable for their employees’ actions according to the law; however they usually are. ‘Corporations can be liable directly or an omission where statute imposes liability on the company’ (Derrington, 2020). This can also depend on the crime, for embezzlement, ‘If the offender is a clerk or servant, and the thing stolen is the property of the offender’s employer, or came into the possession of the offender on account of the offender’s employer, the offender is liable to imprisonment for 10 years.’(Legislation, 2023). This is one example of how strict the commission is
when it comes to these types of crimes occurring.

(Fou, 2021)
We also looked into money laundering. What I found interesting was a money laundering case where a man attempted to convert $5.5 million into bitcoin. Men were found in Sydney with millions of dollars along with multiple illegal drugs, they were found after a cybercrime detective found a man had started a ‘criminal syndicate’ in attempt to launder his money through crypto currencies (O'Mallon, 2021). The key to this was bitcoins ‘mixers and exchanges’, their mixing services ‘aim to disassociate bitcoins from their source, which is often of a criminal nature.’ While their exchange services aim to anonymously convert bitcoins to spendable money.’ (Miralis, n.d.) Breaches in money laundering laws can cost offenders up to $11 million.

It's clear that common fraud and corruption within criminal law can result in extremely harsh punishments under the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. This in mind, being a forensic accountant you’d need to be aware of the harsh penalties offenders may face based on your findings.

Word count - 274

References:

Derrington, T. H. (2020). CORPORATE CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY. Brisbane: AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT.

Miralis, D. (n.d.). What is Bitcoin laundering? Retrieved from NYMAN GIBSON MIRALIS: https://ngm.com.au/bitcoin-laundering/

O'Mallon, F. (2021). Sydney man arrested over alleged bitcoin money-laundering scheme. Sydney: FInancial Review.

 Legislation, Q. (2023). CRIMINAL CODE 1899 - SECT 398. Brisbane: Queensland Government.

Team, C. (2023, January 11). Embezzlement. Retrieved from CFI: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/esg/embezzlement/

Fou, D. A. (2021, January 1). Digital (Money Laundering, Tax Evading, Terrorist Funding) Advertising.
Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/augustinefou/2021/01/01/digitalmoney-laundering-tax-evading-terrorist-fundingadvertising/?sh=e38961f32cc6

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 3 - IT Governance and Management Responsibility

Image
  Week 3: IT Governance and Management Responsibility Technology plays a vital role in managing information for all enterprises, from creation to destruction, technology serves as a crucial resource in containing, distributing and analyzing information ( COBIT 5). However, technology comes with risks, viruses, identity theft, worms, hackers and many more issues come along with technology in enterprises. In order to combat these risks, enterprises need information security to ‘protect against disclosure to unauthorized users, improper modification and non-access when required’ ( COBIT 5 ). COBIT 5 provides insight and guidance into information security with the enablers below. ( 4 TYPES OF DATA BREACHES TO KNOW IN 2022, 2022 ) Principles, policies and framework Processes Organizational Structures Culture, ethics and behavior Information Services, infrastructure and applications People, skills and competencies Risk is a constant aspect enterprises are measuring and assessing, this is
Read more

Week 4: Overview and introduction to the Australian Legal Framework

Image
Week 4: Overview and introduction to the Australian Legal Framework (Lawyers, n.d.) Being a forensic accountant, you must be familiar with the Australian Court Hierarchy and understand basic differences in Civil and Criminal Law. Having basic knowledge of criminal law is as simple as knowing the state is responsible for prosecution whereas in civil law the person claiming they’ve been harmed will initiate a civil action.  Looking into ASIC v VINES, we saw Mr. Vines, a former GIO officer, chartered accountant, and CFO for the GIO group. It was here Mr Vines was charged with breaching four different provisions of corporate law. Being a big case, we won’t go too deep into it but basically Mr. Vines was accused of knowingly issuing inaccurate forecasts someone in his position should be aware of between 1998-99. This resulted in the Supreme Court becoming aware in 2005 and disqualified Mr. Vines for 3 years and he was ordered to pay a penalty fee of $100,000. His charges came down to brea
Read more

Week 2 - Governance Issues & Fraud

Image
(Lane, 2014)             Week 2 - Governance Issues & Fraud Governance does not protect an organisation against corruption, fraud and bribery, there are many factors that attribute to this.  COBIT 5 is an IT management toolset by ISACA, providing a business view of IT governance, ensuring control over information and meeting audience  requirements. Governance evaluates stakeholder needs and sets direction. Management plans, builds, runs, and monitors activities aligned with governance to achieve objectives. Both are crucial for organizational effectiveness ( NUSSBAUMER) . COBIT 5 works through addressing the 5 principles, meeting stakeholder needs, covering the enterprise end-to-end, applying a single integrated framework, enabling a holistic approach, separating governance from management ( BERNARD, 2012 ).  (Group, 2022) In recent times we’ve seen cyber-attacks on a large scale, these being targeted at Optus, Medibank, Telstra and more just in the last year. I read a report about
Read more