When will the fraud stop?

Tuesday March 17th, 2009

It seems that issues of white collar crime are becoming more apparent each day you look in the newspaper. I cam across another issue of fraud by a 30 year veteran of the Pennsylvania Senate. This is hard to fathom if you already feel that the politicians are worthless and scamming people out of money. It just leaves a sour taste in peoples mouths that people continue to steal and defraud other innocent people. This individual, Vincent J. Fumo, was convicted on Monday for committing $3.5 million in fraud, taking money from two nonprofits and using state employees to do political and personal tasks. This might not be a tremendous amount of money like Bernie Madoff scammed from people. It is just the principle of the whole thing, doing the right thing just does not seem to be enough in today's world.

The prosecution was looking for at least 10 years in prison for this federal crime. I feel that is sufficient on one hand because people need to learn that they cannot get away with these fraudulent acts. On the other hand he is old and has already suffered a heart attack so maybe if he was sent to a place other than a prison it might suffice. They just can't let someone completely off for taking advantage of his power. It seems that technology and the internet are becoming issues and could have let this criminal off because of something a member of the jury did. Allegedly a member of the jury posted a comment on his facebook that said to expect a "big announcement" on Monday. Of course defense attorneys tried to take advantage of this and argue that it tainted the jury and showed that he had outside communication about this case. If this guy had cost the case by this comment he should have been put in jail for a few days. I know he was anxious because he felt that the man was guilty but he needs to keep his cool and make comments when the case is over. He was just looking for a little recognition where it should not have been. I hope people will learn to stop stealing money from people and organizations and try to live a law abiding life, it will make this world a much better life. I can see people being tempted to steal and defraud people of money, the media makes such a big deal about money and wealth, but people need to learn that it is still crime even though in many cases no one is being physically hurt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/17fumo.html

Source: NY Times