1st Edition

Handbook of Frauds, Scams, and Swindles Failures of Ethics in Leadership

Edited By Serge Matulich, David M. Currie Copyright 2009
    414 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    414 Pages
    by Routledge

    It has been said that scammers and swindlers often display characteristics commonly attributed to good leadership. These include setting a vision, communicating it clearly, and motivating others to follow their lead. But when these skills are used by unconscionable people to satisfy greed, how can the average person recognize that foul play is afoot?

    Providing a unique account of frauds throughout modern history, Handbook of Frauds, Scams, and Swindles: Failures of Ethics in Leadership compiles narratives from around the world, including a number of highly-publicized cases. Leading financial and investigative experts have authored the individual chapters, yet the book maintains a reader-friendly style. 

    The result is a text that is highly engaging and most importantly, provides regulators and investigators with an understanding of the motivations and behavior common to the individuals behind these life-damaging crimes.

    The book includes a wealth of stories, including famous cases such as Ponzi, ZZZZ Best, Enron, Parmalat, and Vivendi, along with lesser-known scandals involving both corporations and individuals. There is also a section on frauds perpetrated for motives other than financial rewards, including instances when the government performed experiments on humans without their knowledge or consent, as well as stories on frauds involving science and religion.

    A section detailing the Arthur Anderson debacle discusses the compounding of a fraud when the supposed watchdog plays a complicit role. And recognizing that not every issue is black or white, the book also explores whether a hoax perpetrated in the name of a noble cause can ever be justified.

    By reviewing the tactics used by swindlers and the motivations that turned good people crooked, investigators and others will come to recognize the red flags that accompany unscrupulous behavior. In doing so, they may well learn how to head off potential disaster.

    Survival of the Fittest and Smartest
    The Nature of Honesty: Exploring Examples of the Literary Hoax in America, N. M. Shelton
    Price Adjustments under the Table, D. Levy
    Greedy Individuals
    Charles Ponzi, S. Pressman
    Farm-Town Boy to International Fugitive, P. Kuhse, J.A. Ostrosky, L.M. Leinicke, and W.M. Rexroad
    Oscar Hartzell and the Estate of Sir Francis Drake, S. Pressman
    A Concrete Example of Fraud at the Fort Worth Independent School District, A.I. Barkman
    My (S)old Kentucky Home: The Erpenbeck Homebuilder Case, J. Cashell, B. Ballou, and D.L. Heitger
    ZZZZ Best: Taking Investors to the Cleaners, T. Isaacs
    The City Slickers Share Price Scam,P. Barnes
    Martin Frankel, S. Pressman
    Scientific Cheating
    Human Experimentation Involving Radiation, Syphilis, and Scurvy,M.T. Lee and J.A. Gailey
    Doctoring the Data: Ethical Failures in Medical Research,K.L. Sisemore
    From Fraud to Holocaust: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,C.J. Ferguson
    Slimy Behavior
    The China Aviation Oil Scandal,K.T. Jackson
    The SH Oil and Gas Exploration Scandal,P.R. Murray
    The Spanish Cooking Oil Scandal: Toxic Oil Syndrome or Cover-Up?, J.P. Johnson
    Fraud in the Corporate World
    Adelphia Communications: The Public Company That Became a Private Piggy Bank
    A Case of Fraud in the Rigas Family Firm,R.E. Kidwell
    High Stakes and High Energy at Enron: The Meteoric Rise and Fall of the “Crooked E”,S.F. Hallam and R.C. Mayer
    The Inside Story of the Parmalat Scandal: Family Leadership Gone Wrong in a Multinational Group,B. Soltani and F. Soltani
    Royal Ahold: Leadership Failure and “Big Bath” Accounting,B. Soltani and F. Soltani
    The Vivendi Debacle: The Fallen Superstar,B. Soltani and F. Soltani
    Watchdogs Caught Napping
    The Fall of a Giant: The Case of Arthur Andersen & Co., B.K. Peterson Kramer and C.W. Johnson
    The Fall of San Diego, D.V. Denison and J.L. Burke
    United Airlines: Pensions, Profits, and Ethics,R.H. Fern and J.W. Spain
    Unhealthy Developments
    The HealthSouth “Family”,F.L. Malone and R. Pitre
    Richard Scrushy: The Rise and Fall of the “King of Health Care”,  S.A. Solieri, A.J. Felo,
    and J. Hodowanitz
    See No Evil; Hear No Evil; Speak No Evil: Ernst & Young’s Ethical Responsibility for the HealthSouth Fraud,S.A. Solieri, A.J. Felo, and J. Hodowanitz

    Biography

    Serge Matulich, David M. Currie