The Brutality of Non-violent Organized White-Collar Crime Groups

The most difficult crimes to deter, investigate, and prosecute are committed by organized crime groups who share the same race, religion, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. The social cohesiveness of such criminal groups makes it relatively easy for them to coordinate their actions to effectively execute and cover up their crimes over long periods of time.

When most people think of organized crime, they think in terms of violent criminal groups such as the Mafia. However, not all organized crime groups use violence in the execution of their crimes.

Some of the most effective organized crime groups consist of white-collar criminals who do not use any violence at all. Such organized white-collar criminal groups can be found among primarily family based businesses, even after such businesses become public companies because their management is dominated by well coordinated and cohesive family members.

Members of the Antar family, myself included, who committed the Crazy Eddie fraud, used a combination of deceit, charm, and distraction to effectively commit our crimes over an 18 year period. While we didn’t kill people, we were just as brutal and caused just as much harm as if we were violent criminals by emptying the wallets of our victims. You can steal more with a smile than you can steal with a gun.

I was recently interviewed by Ilene Carrie (syndicated blogger, editor at Phil's Stock World, and attorney) about the Crazy Eddie fraud and the mind, motivations, and techniques of white-collar criminals. To read part 1 of this provocative interview entitled "No Redemption", please click here.

I warned her that by the time she finished the interview, I'd make her into a "paranoid schizophrenic" who would never trust another man again.

Written by:

Sam E. Antar

Special thanks to Phil Davis, fellow Seeking Alpha contributor and founder of Phil's Stock World for letting me share my views on white-collar crime with investors.

Recommended Reading

August 26, 2009: Jewish Daily Forward - ‘Crazy’ Eddie’s Cousin, a Former Fraudster, Speaks Out on Syrian ‘Subculture of Crime’ by Rebecca Dube

October 9, 2009: CNN.com - Financial fraud 101 -- Accounting for criminals by Kevin Voigt

March 9, 2010: Jr Deputy Accountant - The Wall of False Integrity Tour: Stanford (With Sam Antar) by Adrienne Gonzalez

May 3, 2010: Con Artist Hall of Infamy - Video clips of our interview with Sam Antar of Craaaazy Eddie! by Becca MacLaren

May 9, 2010: Simoleon Sense - GuestPost: Fraud Girl Interviews Convicted Financial Felon Sam Antar

May 23, 2010: Simoleone Sense - Guest Post: Fraud Girl “Learning From Frauds, Armstrong’s Denial, & The Body Language of Deceit”

Other featured interviews

Selling America Short: The SEC and Market Contrarians in the Age of Absurdity by Richard Sauer (Wiley 2010)

Disclosure

I am a convicted felon and a former CPA. As the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie, I helped Eddie Antar and other members of his family mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered during the 1980's. I committed my crimes in cold-blood for fun and profit, and simply because I could.

If it weren't for the efforts of the FBI, SEC, Postal Inspector's Office, US Attorney's Office, and class action plaintiff's lawyers who investigated, prosecuted, and sued me, I would still be the criminal CFO of Crazy Eddie today.

There is a saying, "It takes one to know one." Today, I work very closely with the FBI, IRS, SEC, Justice Department, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies in training them to identify and catch white-collar criminals.

Recently, I exposed financial reporting violations by Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) as an independent whistleblower. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Overstock.com and its CEO Patrick Byrne for securities law violations (Details here,  here, and here).

I do not own Overstock.com securities long or short. My exposure of financial reporting violations by Overstock.com was a freebie to securities regulators to get me into heaven, though I doubt that I will ever there.

I do not seek or want forgiveness for my vicious crimes from my victims. I plan on frying in hell with other white-collar criminals for a very long time.