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CHAPTER SEVEN / ГЛАВА VII¹

BUSINESS CRIMES AND TORTS

ДОЛЖНОСТНЫЕ ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЯ И ПРАВОНАРУШЕНИЯ

Unit 1.White-Collar Crime

Раздел 1. Преступления «белого воротничка»

(1) The term «white-collar crime» originally referred only to crimes committed against business firms, usually by their employees, through the use of non-physical, nonviolent means. In this sense, such crime consisted essentially of embezzlement, the taking of an employer’s funds by an employee entrusted with such funds, and theft, the wrongful taking of any other property of the employer. Today, however, the term has almost universally been broadened, to refer to all nonviolent criminal acts committed by business Turns as well as against business firms. Used in this broader sense, white-collar crime embraces a very wide spectrum of business misconduct, covering such diverse wrongs as practicing of fraud on insurance companies, securities fraud, obtaining property through misuse of credit cards and even income tax evasion. The term also includes computer fraud, a topic warranting special attention at the end of this chapter. In the following section, we will examine some of the most common business-related actions that violate federal or state criminal statutes – most of which fall under the «white-collar» heading.

Some Federal Crimes

(2) There are many business-related acts that constitute federal primes. For example, in the area of bankruptcy, the federal Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 makes it a crime for a debtor to willfully transfer property to a confederate before bankruptcy proceedings for the purpose of defrauding creditors, to conceal his or her assets during bankruptcy proceedings, and to give false testimony under oath during such proceedings.

(3) Additionally, a number of federal statutes impose criminal liability on persons and firms who offer bribes and kickbacks to federal officials for the purpose of obtaining business advantages. Similarly, bribery of officials of foreign governments for the purpose of obtaining the sale of goods or services to those governments is a crime under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 – an act passed after testimony in Congress divulged widespread use of. such bribery by a number of U.S. firms in the late 1960 s and early 1970 s. Any firm that violates this act can be fined up to $2 million, and officers and directors of such firms may be fined up to $100,000 or imprisoned for up to five years or both.

Vocabulary Notes

(1) Embezzlement – растрата

Entrust – вверять, поручать

Theft – кража, воровство

Wrongful – противоправный, противозаконный

Embrace – включать, воспринимать, заключать в объятия

Misconduct – проступок, должностное преступление

Wrong – правонарушение

Fraud – мошенничество, обман

Securities fraud – мошенничество с ценными бумагами

Defraud – обманывать, обманом лишать

Fraudulent – обманный

Misuse – злоупотребление

Income tax evasion – уклонение от уплаты подоходного налога

Warrant – служить оправданием, гарантировать

Criminal statutes, criminal laws – уголовное законодательство

(2) Constitute – составлять, учреждать

Confederate – сообщник, соучастник, союзник

Testimony – показание, показание свидетеля

Oath – присяга

(3) Criminal liability – уголовная ответственность

Bribe – взятка, подкуп, подкупать

Bribery – взяточничество

Kickback – часть незаконно полученных денег, взятка

Corrupt – коррумпированный, продажный, подкупать

Corrupt practices – коррупция, подкупность, продажность

Divulge – разглашать

Fine – оштрафовать, штраф

Imprison – лишить свободы, посадить в тюрьму

¹ Перепечатано с разрешения Prentice-Hall, Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ, из книги Н. Cheeseman. Business Law.