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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:24 pm
Time: 12:24 pm
Results for business crimes
7 results foundAuthor: Tilley, Nick Title: Business Views of Organised Crime Summary: This report describes research that examined the impact of organised crime against businesses located in three high crime residential neighbourhoods in the U.K. The study is based on detailed interviews with managers or owners of 420 businesses in three high crime neighbourhoods. It was concerned with the effects of both direct and indirect organised crime, including: direct victimisation of the businesses from organised crime groups; the creation of a local climate of organised crime and intimidation that drives out certain businesses or acts as a barrier to the establishment of others; and the arrival of unfair competition through the sale and distribution of illicit goods whether stolen, counterfeit or contraband. Details: London: Home Office, 2008. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 10: Accessed September 22, 2010 at: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/horr10c.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/horr10c.pdf Shelf Number: 113412 Keywords: Business CrimesCounterfeitingOrganized CrimeStolen GoodsVictimization |
Author: Australia. Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Title: Suspicious matter reporting - Market Participants in the securities and derivatives sectors Summary: All reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act) have obligations to report suspicious matters to AUSTRAC through the submission of suspicious matter reports (SMRs). These reports are a critical source of intelligence in combating serious criminal activity, including organised crime, terrorism financing and tax evasion. In July 2010 AUSTRAC conducted a survey of reporting entities that are Market Participants1 in the securities and derivatives sectors. The survey gathered information about how Market Participants have understood and addressed their SMR and related obligations under the AML/CTF Act. The survey included questions about staff training, transaction monitoring and enhanced customer due diligence (ECDD). This report presents the results of the survey, including aggregated data and analysis. It is a snapshot of organisational capacity and readiness among Market Participants to identify matters that may be reportable to AUSTRAC as SMRs. There are 16 key findings and five areas of ‘outlier behaviour’ that warrant highlighting. Where the report states that a respondent exhibited ‘outlier behaviour’, this indicates that the respondent’s behaviour diverged from that exhibited by their peers, and that they were yet to develop fully effective AML/CTF programs, systems or processes. The report’s findings will be directly relevant to Market Participants. The findings will also be of interest to the broader regulated population, compliance professionals, industry peak bodies, professional associations and academics. Details: West Chastwood, Australia: Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), 2010. 35p. Source: AUSTRAC survey series no. 2: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at http://www.austrac.gov.au/files/surveyseries_market_participants.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.austrac.gov.au/files/surveyseries_market_participants.pdf Shelf Number: 125219 Keywords: Business CrimesCrime Reporting (Australia)Financial CrimesOrganized CrimeTerrorist Financing |
Author: Button, Mark Title: Fraud and Punishment: Enhancing Deterrence Through More Effective Sanctions. Main Report Summary: This research was commissioned by the Midlands Fraud Forum, Eversheds and PKF with the aim to ‘assess how sanctions are used against fraudsters and how this can be made easier so as to maximise deterrence.’ Fraud is becoming much more transparent in society as a problem that causes significant harm. The recent National Fraud Authority’s Annual Fraud Indicator estimate of a £73 billion1 problem establishes it as, in all probability, the most expensive crime to UK Plc. There is also evidence that some criminals are moving from traditional acquisitive crime to fraud. Clearly more needs to be done to reduce fraud, and sanctions form an important element of that strategy. There has been interest in sanctions for fraud and related areas in recent years in Government backed reviews and strategies2. However, academic research in this area has been sparse and tended to focus upon specific types of fraud3. This research addresses some of that gap by delving deeper into the sanctions used to counter fraud. The aim was to look for inspiration from a range of other sectors, with a view to making recommendations for the more effective use of sanctions against fraudsters, building upon some of the other work undertaken in this area. The report is based upon documentary research, 39 interviews drawn from organisations across the criminal and civil justice systems, public and private sectors. Additionally a survey was also conducted for this research which secured 397 responses. This is the summary report and full findings can be found in the main report (“the Report”) and survey report documents. Details: Portsmouth, UK: Centre for Counter Fraud Studies, University of Portsmouth, 2012. 127p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/icjs/centreforcounterfraudstudies/documents/filetodownload,161060,en.tmp Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/icjs/centreforcounterfraudstudies/documents/filetodownload,161060,en.tmp Shelf Number: 128913 Keywords: Business CrimesCorporate Fraud (U.K.)Criminal SanctionsFinancial CrimesWhite-Collar Crime |
Author: Barbour, Aaron Title: Supporting People to Legitimise Their Informal Businesses Summary: There is evidence that an increasing number of people are engaged in informal work, and the scale of these activities makes them an important part of the UK’s local and regional economies. Government policy responses could include a laissez-faire approach, deterrence or encouraging compliance, but have, in the main, been punitive. There needs to be better understanding of the most effective ways to tackle the informal economy in order to choose the best combination of policies. The report: • presents the scale and range of the informal economy in the UK; • defines what is meant by formalisation and current practices; • examines the activities involved in formalisation, the length and cost of the service and the key characteristics needed by the supporting organisation; and • presents a model of a formalisation service that organisations might replicate to help informal entrepreneurs to legitimise their businesses. Details: York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2013. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2013 at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/supporting-people-informal-businesses Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/supporting-people-informal-businesses Shelf Number: 128959 Keywords: Business CrimesInformal Economy (U.K.)Tax AvoidanceUnderground Economy |
Author: Snowdon, Christopher Title: Drinking in the Shadow Economy Summary: Executive summary: • One in ten bottles or cans of beer sold in the UK have not had duty paid on them and there are growing reports of counterfeit spirits being sold by licit and illicit retailers. HMRC seized almost ten million litres of non-duty paid alcohol in 2010/11, a rise of 30 per cent in two years. The UK loses more revenue from the cross-border movement of alcohol than any other EU state. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that encourage the production, distribution and purchasing of alcohol in the shadow economy. • Unrecorded alcohol encompasses smuggled alcohol, commercially manufactured counterfeit alcohol, domestic brewing and distilling, surrogate alcohol, alcohol fraud and cross-border shopping. Failing to deal with alcohol’s shadow economy threatens not only the public finances, but also public health and public order. Counterfeit spirits and surrogate alcohol frequently contain dangerous levels of methanol, isopropanol and other chemicals which cause toxic hepatitis, blindness and death. Alcohol smuggling and counterfeiting is linked to other illegal activities, including drug smuggling, prostitution, violence, money-laundering and terrorism. • Factors which lead to shadow economic activity include high taxes and social security payments, low tax morale, complex tax systems, low Gross Domestic Product, weak institutions and corruption. Evidence shows that the illicit alcohol market is also closely associated with high taxes, corruption and poverty. The affordability of alcohol appears to be the key determinant behind the supply and demand for smuggled and counterfeit alcohol. Affordability is low in some countries due to low incomes (e.g. Eastern Europe) and in others because of high alcohol duty (e.g. Scandinavia). The price of alcohol in neighbouring markets also influences rates of unofficial consumption. • Demand for alcohol is relatively inelastic and drinkers have a series of options available to them when real prices increase. They can do as the government hopes and drink less, but they can also do any of the following: (1) make savings elsewhere in the household budget, (2) switch from the on-trade to the off-trade, (3) downshift to cheaper drinks, (4) shop abroad, (5) brew or distil their own alcohol, (6) buy counterfeit or smuggled alcohol, and finally (7) buy surrogate alcohol (e.g. methanol, antifreeze, aftershave). The extent to which consumption patterns change depends on personal income and the affordability of alcohol. • Our analysis indicates that the affordability of alcohol does not have a strong effect on how much alcohol is consumed. Once unrecorded alcohol is included in the estimates, it can be seen that countries with the least affordable alcohol have the same per capita alcohol consumption rates as those with the most affordable alcohol. • Alcohol duty provides significant income to European governments, but maximising these revenues carries significant risks in terms of health, crime and secondary poverty. Lessons can be learnt from countries which have low rates of unrecorded alcohol. We conclude that economic prosperity, moderate taxation and minimal corruption are essential for a country to minimise the size the alcohol black market. Without these preconditions, efforts to tackle the illicit alcohol supply through education, deterrence and enforcement are unlikely to succeed. Details: London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2012. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: IEA Discussion paper no. 43: Accessed June 5, 2013 at: http://www.iea.org.uk/publications/research/drinking-in-the-shadow-economy Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.iea.org.uk/publications/research/drinking-in-the-shadow-economy Shelf Number: 128964 Keywords: Alcohol IndustryBusiness CrimesCommercial CrimesFraudIllegal Alcohol SalesShadow EconomyTax Evasion |
Author: Gholami, Hossein Title: Policy Innovations, Political Preferences, and Cartel Prosecutions Summary: While price-fixing cartel prosecutions have received significant attention, the policy determinants and the political preferences that guide such antitrust prosecutions remain understudied. We empirically examine the intertemporal shifts in U.S. antitrust cartel prosecutions during the period 1969-2013. This period has seen substantive policy innovations with increasing penalties related to fines and jail terms. There appear to be four distinct cartel policy regimes: pre-1978, 1978-1992, 1993-2003, and 2004-2013. Our empirical estimates show significant variation in the number of cartels prosecuted and the penalties imposed across the policy regimes. The more recent regimes are characterized by far fewer cartels prosecuted, but with substantially higher penalties levied on firms and individuals. While effective deterrence is one explanation for these patterns, we are more inclined to conclude that US cartel enforcement has seen an underlying shift away from focusing on smaller cartels to larger and multinational firms. In terms of political effects, our results reveal no clear inter-political party effect on cartel prosecutions, but there appear to be interesting intra-political party effects. We find that particular Presidencies matter for cartel prosecutions, and variation across Presidential administrations led to marked shifts in the total number of cartels prosecuted. Overall, the shifts in the number of cartels prosecuted and penalties levied portray changing policy priorities and a search for the optimal enforcement design to curtail one of the clearest sources of welfare loss, collusion. Details: Georgia Institute of Technology; Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research (CESifo); and University of Florida - Levin College of Law; George Washington University Law School Competition Law Center, 2015. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2659486 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2659486 Shelf Number: 136855 Keywords: Business CrimesFinancial Crime Price-Fixing White-Collar Crime |
Author: Anderson, Helen Title: Phoenix Activity: Recommendations on Detection, Disruption and Enforcement Summary: Phoenix activity occurs where the business of a failed company is transferred to a second (typically newly incorporated) company and the second company's controllers are the same as the first company's controllers. Phoenix activity can be legal as well as illegal. Phoenix activity is illegal where the controllers' intention is to shift assets from the predecessor company to the successor company to avoid liabilities such as unsecured debts, employee entitlements, taxes, adverse court judgments and fines. Phoenix activity has become a significant concern for governments because of the number of individuals promoting illegal phoenix activity, the significant loss of tax revenue it causes, and the recognition of the potentially devastating impact it has on creditors and employees. This report is the third by the authors dealing with phoenix activity. The first report examines the various historical attempts to define phoenix activity and identifies five categories of phoenix activity ranging from legitimate business rescue to complex illegal phoenix activity and provides examples of each. The second report captures all available data relating to the incidence, cost and enforcement of laws dealing with illegal phoenix activity. In this report, the authors propose reforms aimed at better detection, disruption, punishment and deterrence of illegal phoenix activity. Details: Melbourne, AUS: Melbourne Law School, 2017. 162p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2017 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2924277 Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2924277 Shelf Number: 145806 Keywords: Business CrimesCorruptionFinancial CrimesTax Evasion |