Answer

• Fraud and Counterfeiting
• Specific Crimes That Have Occurred In Fraud
• Bernard Madoff Ponzi Scheme
• The Madoff investment scandal was a stock and securities fraud discovered in 2008.
• In this fraud, Madoff deposited his client’s funds into a single bank account and used such funds to pay those clients who wanted to cash out.
• When the market turned sharply lower in 2008, he was unable to maintain the fraud.
• By the time his sons turned him to authorities in Dec. 10, 2008, clients assets were $64.8 billion in value.
• The case took one year to investigate and prosecute the parties involved and Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison and $170 restitution fine. (Source: Neuman, 2009).
• Capital One Credit Card Fraud 2019
• In July 2019, Paige Thompson fraudulently broke into a Capital One server.
• Thompson gained access to 140,000 Social Security numbers, 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers.
• The hack of the server was basically for fun because after posting the information on GitHub, Thompson boasted that she had such information.
• The prosecution of Thompson is still going on and the case has not been closed. (Source: Primeaux, 2020).
• Specific Crimes That Have Occurred In Counterfeiting
• Jianhua “Jeff” Li Apple Counterfeiting Scheme
• Jianhua “Jeff” Li was found guilty of smuggling counterfeit Apple products from China to the US.
• Li was found with products from china such as fake iPhones and iPads in October 2011.
• In a District of New Jersey , Li pleaded guilty to smuggling and trafficking more than 40,000 electronic devices and accessories bearing Apple trademarks.
• After 8 years of investigation, Li was sentenced to 3 years in prison followed by one year of supervised release. (Source: VOA Student Union, 2019).
• Alexander Sterling’s Counterfeiting of Federal Reserve Notes
• Alexander Sterling Potter Milledge,, an Iowa man was caught in an attempt to pass counterfeit money at a Casey’s General Store .
• The investigation started on March 18 and when police searched Sterling’s home, they found more counterfeit money ($35,000) as well as the computers, printers, and papers used to make the money.
• Sterling pleaded guilty to the counterfeiting in March 2019 .
• Sterling was convicted to serve 6 months in prison as well as two years of supervised release. (Source: Davis, 2019).
• Specific Crimes That Have Occurred In Counterfeiting
• Unethical behavior should be criminalized because it can have adverse effects on an organization and the society.
• Unethical behavior can lead to organizations losing their credibility and hence their clients
• Unethical behavior by managers can lead to an organization suffering significant loses/fines.
• Entertaining unethical behavior leads to a culture of immorality in the society.
• Unethical behavior should be criminalized to prevent these adverse effects that it has on the organizations and the society.
• Ethical Issues Involved
• Fraud Cases
• In the Ponzi scheme case, the ethical issues involved are those of honesty and integrity.
• Bernard Madoff was dishonest and hence lured people into investing their monies into a fraudulent scheme.
• In the Capital One Credit Card Fraud, the ethical issues are those of integrity and immorally.
• The actions by Thompson of using his position to hack into Capital One’s server and steal information was immoral.
• Counterfeit Cases
• Li’s counterfeiting scheme brings forth the ethical issues of his truth telling and integrity.
• By using Apple’s name to seal counterfeit products, Li was being dishonest.
• Using Apple’s name to sell counterfeit could affect its (Apple’s) reputation.
• The counterfeiting of Federal Reserve could put into question the integrity of the US’s money system and the authenticity of monies in the society.