In the case, the United States vs. Peter Madoff, the accused is Peter Madoff and the defendant is the United States which is representing the public. Peter was had been accused of aiding his brother, Bernard L, Madoff to swindle off investors huge amounts of money through a Ponzi scheme. His brother had been convicted of the crimes four years earlier to serve 150 years in jail. This case had been brought to a Manhattan court and the judge presiding over this case was U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. The questions of the case included when did peter Madoff first learn about the crimes that were occurring at the securities advisory firm owned by his brother? During the proceedings of this case, some of the witnesses and victims spoke of how they had been fraudulently defrauded and begged the judge to give peter a life sentence. In his defense, Peter admitted to not knowing about the crimes by his brother until he was arrested. The accused was sentenced to serve for 10 years in prison and all his wealth was reposed by the state.
This case, the United States vs. Peter Madoff is a white collar crime because it fits all the characteristics of a white collar crime. The first major characteristic was that the crime committed by Peter was not violent. The crime was also hugely dependent on the concealment of information as Peter argued that he was not aware of what his bigger brother was doing yet he was the chief financial officer. According to Gottschalk (2010), the other characteristics are that the crime was profitable, and the perpetrators of the crime were not someone homeless. A white collar crime is also characterized by the various monetary investigation authorities in coordination with the FBI.
References
Gottschalk, P. (2010). White-collar crime: Detection, prevention and strategy in business enterprises. Boca Raton: Universal Publishers.
