Investigations, prosecutions, and prison sentences for white collar (financial) crimes in America have spiked significantly in recent years, leaving many members of the Orthodox community with the feeling that they are being singled out. Mishpacha questioned some experts in the field to determine if this is fact or fantasy.
Last May Assistant US Attorney General Lanny Breuer issued a not-so veiled warning when he labeled our times “a new era of heightened white collar crime enforcement — an era marked by increased resources increased information sharing increased cooperation and coordination and tough penalties for corporations and individuals alike.”
Since the 1990s when white collar crimes took a backseat to violent crime the former’s prominence in the eyes of law-enforcement officials has risen dramatically.
Early in the last decade after the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act federal sentencing guidelines were changed to increase jail terms for white collar criminals. Statistics show that between 1995 and 2008 the average sentence for a federal white collar criminal rose from 18 to 28 months.
“Judges are no longer handing down six-month sentences for these crimes; they’re far harsher that they were even five years ago” says Chaim H. Leshkowitz senior partner in the Leshkowitz and Company accounting firm as well as an attorney specializing in tax and other financial matters. “The criminal justice system is sick and tired of what it sees as white collar criminals gaining an unfair advantage over law-abiding citizens.”
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