White Collar Crime

Catalog description

This course will explore the policy justifications of, legal foundations for, and practical issues involved in, the prosecution of white collar crime. The course will include an in-depth discussion of the substantive law and federal statutes commonly used in the prosecution of white collar cases, including mail and wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and statutes related to the obstruction of justice. The course will also introduce the concept of corporate criminal responsibility and the sanctions that may be imposed on corporations. Through the use of primary materials, such as indictments and SEC complaints, the course will provide an overview of the life of a white collar case from initial investigation through sentencing, including an examination of the unique problems that often arise along the way in white collar cases due to parallel civil proceedings. Throughout the course, students will be asked to critically analyze the approaches taken by Congress in writing and prosecutors in enforcing the federal white collar crime laws.