Grand Rapids White-Collar Crime Attorney

Defining White-Collar Crimes in Grand Rapids

Around 40% of all individuals arrested for white-collar crimes are aged 25-39. This is the largest age demographic involved in many industries, including the financial and business sectors, where many white-collar crimes take place. In Grand Rapids, white-collar crimes are almost always of a nonviolent nature, involve business owners with no criminal record, and accuse people of being motivated by finances or monetary gain.

The most commonly-charged people in white-collar crime cases include government officials, real estate investors and syndicators, investment fund managers, and employees. “White-collar crime” includes any type of crime that involves a scheme to defraud for financial gain, including:

• Fraud. Fraud can relate to several different crimes, such as those involving insurance, tax, securities healthcare billing, investor funds, and loan applications to banks or the Small Business Administration (SBA). In fraud cases, a defendant is usually accused of holding back necessary information or providing false information to profit from another. Nearly 39% of people arrested for fraud are owners or executives of a non-profit organization.
• Embezzlement. This occurs when a person uses the funds or property entrusted to them for an unauthorized reason. This is often done by employees skimming money for themselves.
• Forgery. Forgery occurs when a person allegedly tampers with or falsifies legal and official checks, files, signatures, identity papers, or other forms of legal documentation for their own personal gain or use.
• Money laundering. This crime can occur when a person seeks to move illegally-obtained funds through a separate avenue or complicated banking transactions. This makes it appear like the funds were legally earned.
• Ponzi schemes. A Ponzi scheme involves paying an original investor’s earnings or dividends with funds from new investors. The Ponzi scheme manager will generally entice new investors with the promise of large returns, but the returns are paid out of the funds of new investors rather than out of legitimate investment earnings.
• Insider trading. This occurs when a person bases a stock or securities trade on confidential information that was not readily available to the public.
• Identity theft. Identity theft happens when a person takes the personal information of another, such as their credit card or Social Security number, to commit a criminal act.

In white-collar criminal cases, the penalties are almost always associated with the amount of financial loss to the victims. Penalties can include jail or prison, large fines, restitution to the victims, forfeiture of assets paid for with the proceeds of the offense, and professional licensing issues for licensed professionals.

If you are facing allegations of white-collar crimes in Grand Rapids, you need to seek legal counsel immediately as soon as you become aware of even the potential for an allegation against you. It is vital to bring an experienced lawyer onto the case to fight for you and implement a strong defense strategy on your behalf, as what happens in the early stages of the investigation tend to determine the outcome of the entire case.