The causes of White Collar Crime
A journalist asks: “I’m exploring a case of husbands and wives who together have been charged or convicted in white-collar crimes. How often does this happen? Are spouses involved in this type of crime more likely to face conspiracy charges? Do they often work at the same company, and what are some of the dynamics (emotional, marriage) that might drive spouses to conspire in white-collar criminal activities?”
Almost ever convict has had problems with alcohol and/or other drugs. Since ex-cons in recovery rarely commit crimes, we can generally assume most convicts are alcohol or other-drug addicts. Why would white-collar crime be any different from other crime?
Turns out, in my research, it isn’t. Charles Ponzi was an alcoholic, as were most of those committing financial crimes who have followed. So are the celebrity tax evaders I’ve written about at www.addictionreport.com, including “Survivor” Richard Hatch and (allegedly) actor Wesley Snipes and “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis. If they were married to addicts, the spouse might be every bit as culpable.
Alcoholism causes egomania. Egomania impels the addict to wield power over others. Some do so through violence; others, through less obvious coercion. Fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and Ponzi schemes are a few of the methods by which the addict inflates his or her ego, as if to say, “Watch who I can control” and “I am more powerful than the U.S. Government!”
That said, the codependent can mimic behaviors of addicts. In my research I have tentatively identified an addict among a half dozen or so married couples only to find later I’d pegged the wrong one. The codependent can appear and act even crazier than the addict, probably depending largely on whether or not they were raised by addicts.