Writing Assignment #3

While crimes against businesses (such as fraud, embezzlement, and computer crimes) does not result in any physical harm to anyone, the financial damages have been devastating. People who were affected by these crimes has lost things that cannot be replaced over time while the firms' affected will have the reputations affected for a lifetime. History may forget the individual victims, but history will not forget names such as Madoff & Enron.

Locate a recent fraud, embezzlement, computer crime case that occurred within the last five years. The case chosen must have been committed in the last five years and the perpetrators should have been brought to justice (NOTE: If the case is still pending in the legal system, you will need to make a recommendation for punishment). Make sure that you have enough information about the case so that you can answer the following questions:

- Part I: What are the main facts about the case?

- Part II: Apply the fraud opportunity triangle to the case and illustrate how the case complies (or does not complies) with the triangle.

- Part III: If you can go into the mind of the person(s) who committed the crime, what do you think drove them to commit the crime? Were there signals that could have alerted someone that the person(s) were on the verge to commit this crime?

- Part IV: Since this crime was committed via use of some sort of accounting system, what additional controls would you recommend that be included to prevent or limit crimes like this from happening again?

- Part V: If the person(s) involved have been convicted, do you agree with the outcome with this case in terms of the verdict? Was it too harsh or not harsh enough? On the other hand, if they have not been convicted, what sort of punishment do you recommend?

Your response should not generally exceed eight pages (doubled-spaced) or four pages singlespaced. Your page count does not include such items as cover page, reference page, and appendix, if provided. You will need to include at least two references and at least two in-text citations to support your paper. These references must be related directly to the topics covered in the paper. Other specifics regarding our paper include

- Headings: You will need to use headings (short, brief, and centered) to separate each area of your paper. Your headings should have an appropriate title such as Main Facts of the Case instead of Part I.

- Margins & Font Sizes: Use standard margins (minimum .5"; maximum 1.5") and standard font size (minimum 10 point; maximum 12 point) in your paper.

- Writing Style: APA is the preferred writing style, but you can choose any appropriate writing style (e.g. MLA), except that all references are to be formatted via APA. Please consult the UMUC Effective Writing Center for assistance regarding choice of styles and formatting of references via APA.