www.KeepYourEyeonFraud.com

It should be noted though that when it comes to conducting interview and interrogations, professional investigators seek out clusters of behaviors in people that are indicative of deception. Interpreting the eyes do in fact serve as a portal to one of those indicative behaviors. However, as Navarro also indicates, eye contact is considered a social and cultural phenomenon that is practiced differently around the world.  Much like the firmness of a handshake, where some cultures do not stress the importance of this type of behavior. Americans generally do though, where a loose or weak handshake may be interpreted as a sign of weakness or lack of confidence particularly in business related or job interview meetings.

Detecting deception in the world of interview and interrogation is an art. Being proficient at detecting deception requires training and lots of practice.  I think its fair to say though that the best of investigators in life are not perfect. Hence, no one can serve as  the perfect lie detector. The best of have can be fooled at times.

Prosecutors claim that Eshaghoff impersonated the other six Great Neck North High students between 2010 and 2011, by taking SAT tests in their place. In turn, he charged the six other students anywhere between $1,500 and $2,500 to take the SAT test for them. Eshaghoff engaged in these acts of identity fraud by taking the test at schools other than Great Neck, where proctors wouldn’t be familiar with the students’ identity, and he would present fake identification.

No one is advocating cheating or doing what these students did. However, another question to ponder maybe, is asking as to whether the SAT  in and of itself is a fraud? The SAT for instance cannot be considered as an IQ test, for it simply measures whether one paid attention in high school or not, as related in particular to arithmetic and vocabulary. Writing ability is another matter, for this skillset measures one’s ability to articulate and express oneself. However, expressing algebra or geometry formulas, or even possessing an advanced vocabulary ability, cannot be applied generally across the board to every student. Reason being, there are a good percentage of students in life who blossom at a much later age.

Maybe the Educational Testing Service, the nonprofit agency that administers the SAT, can think of  testing students’ knowledge of international and domestic current affairs? What a radical idea. But I suppose testing for Algebra and Geometry, a skillset that many students are never again asked to utilize in their lives again, is a more practical concept.

JAIL FOR CREDIT UNION’S EX-PRESIDENT

Michael John Young former president of Alabama Central Credit Union, pled guilty to bank fraud and as a result has been charged with bank fraud. Now he is going to prison for bank fraud after being sentenced to 17 months, and ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution to his former credit union.

Young’s financial fraud occurred between about April 2009 and June 2010 when the 42 year old, as president of the credit union, submitted fraudulent bills and invoices on behalf of two fictitious companies he had created. Neither business had provided any services or goods to the credit union. Young authorized payment by the credit union of those bills and invoices that he submitted in the name of the fictitious companies. The money paid by the credit union to the accounts of the fictitious companies was controlled and ultimately spent by Young.

Hence, we have a story released in the news today of the findings made by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) as to how the DOJ has been grossly overspending itself in the area of conferences they have held in the last several years.  The OIG discovered for instance how at one conference, one vendor charged the govt. $16 for each muffin served with an 8 ounce of coffee going for $8.24. Imagine that? A $16 muffin, and a cup of coffee that costs over $4 more than your average every day caramel macchiato at Starbucks. You can’t make this up, that’s why I placed this post today under the white collar crime humor category, because as sad as it is, you can’t help but laugh at the same time.

On a more serious note, who on earth from DOJ is making these decisions? Doesn’t DOJ’s event planner even look at the price list before booking an event? According to the OIG, they state the event planners do not accurately track and report conference expenditures. Really???? And we wonder why we have a deficit in this country. 

What’s Your Opinion? Negligence, Fraud, or both?

All the news of this suspect trader comes during a time when there is tremendous economic anxiety in Europe with debt issues concerning Greece constantly in the media.  All of this has created great turmoil in the international markets during the last month. Nevertheless, the question that begs to be asked is how could this happen? Weren’t there controls in place?

The above questions are all worthy of further discussion, but for now, an interesting note is an analysis made by Professor Chris Roebuck (see below video) of the Cass Business School who states basically that – where there’s a will there’s a way – for fraudsters. He also states that to deter such behavior, organizations must employ a “moral compass” model from the top that cascades down to all employees of a company. That concept is commonly referred to as “toning at the top”.

As much as the aforementioned concept is a rationale one, certain people will, regardless of their environment, engage in theft and fraud. Hence the philosophy behind the idea of, “where there’s a will there’s a way”.  Still, it goes without saying that “toning at the top” is a better business practice that should be encouraged and practiced. However, greed gets the best of anyone and potentially everyone. And where there’s money, there’s fraud.  However, if this sounds pessimistic, then let’s not forget the reality of why the 2008 financial collapse of the U.S. economy happend. It was all about greed.

The employee, whose name was not given, led internal investigations that found …

Lucky Luciano

However, Bart Chilton, a Democratic member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, argues that a regulatory shake-up would actually spawn a wave of hiring on Wall Street and in Washington. “The possibilities for economic growth and competition here are mind-boggling,” Mr. Chilton said on Friday during a speech at the University of Maryland.

So the question at the end of the day is, how does the Dodd Frank Act come into play here? Chilton answers this question by stating, “I have no doubt that these new regulations, instituting new types of clearing, trading and reporting platforms, will foster a landslide of hiring in the financial sector ” . In particular, he forecasts growing demand for technology experts. “All of this new trading activity, with new regulatory oversight requirements, will mean the development of new technologies, both in the private and public sectors,” he said.

Yet many banks are laying off employees in recent weeks, owed in part to Dodd-Frank’s constraints on debit card fees and other major revenue generators. Bank of America, for example will be slashing 7,000 jobs this year, ultimately shedding about 10 percent of its roughly 290,000 person workforce.  But at the same time, with the President’s job bill facing an unkown future, to what extent will Dodd-Frank truly be an employment generator?

Despite some of the reduction in work force measures that have been put in place already by banks, some of the nation’s biggest banks and financial firms are instead hiring a continous stream of lawyers, compliance experts and technology experts to gear up for the new regulatory environment. As The New York Times reported on Friday, some are calling the growth industry “Dodd-Frank Inc.”

“I have no doubt that these new regulations, instituting new types of clearing, trading and reporting platforms, will foster a landslide of hiring in the financial sector,” Mr. Chilton said.

As much as Dodd Frank may be providing new employment opportunities for a throng of lawyers, much of society would probably beg to differ if hiring more lawyers in life is actually a good thing.