Profile: Justin Hibbard, Private Investigator, via Connie Loizos, peHUB (emphasis added):
What’s some of the really audacious stuff you’ve come across at Quidnunc so far?
The justifications that people give for fraud are pretty audacious. There is a certain psychological profile that fits people who engage in acts of fraud, and there’s often a high recidivism rate, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Many people who’ve committed fraud and been successful will go on to commit more frauds. Sometimes, it’s like an addiction. But a lot of the time, the fraud centers on an incredible sense of entitlement, people saying, “I should have received that money anyway, because investors had taken more than their fair share” or “I made a lot of money for this firm and wasn’t awarded fairly.”
What really makes my jaw drop sometimes is that investors will come to me and say, “will you do a background check on this person, because we’ve heard some things and want to know if they’re true.” I do it and sure enough, the person has a criminal record or unpaid debts or some history of civil litigation and I’ll show the investors these things, and they’ll go ahead and make the investment anyway, I don’t know what they know and can’t judge them without that, but it’s kind of amazing. If someone has committed fraud or blackmail before, even if it was a desperate situation, that person poses a pretty significant risk.
White collar fraudfeasors who are sentenced have high rate of recidivism, about the same as drug crimes. So, this isn’t a “Poor me, I was feeding my family” kind of thing, it’s a world view — that of the psychopath. (Again, psychopath in its biological sense, of having a moral center disconnect – the narcissism is one particularly charming attribute, c’est vrai quoi?).
Grandville, J.J., Metamorphosis, “Would you like to lunch with us?. . . ” (Hi res, click to enlarge – bird skinning one of its own for lunch; would make a nice (and cheap) Christmas present)
Why aren’t the D&O liability insurers out in front on this one?
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