terminology

Please read the following four scenarios. Through what you have learned, write your response to each situation in thorough and thoughtful responses applying appropriate grammar. Please use the correct terminology and discuss the reason(s) why you chose your response.
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Terminology-
White Collar Crime
Distinguishing characteristics of white collar versus street crime
Ponzi scheme and related term(s)
Demoralization Cost
Delay in Harm related to public perception
Laissez Faire
Caveat Emptor related to latent defects
Number one Industry involved in fraud and highest consumer complaints
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Bait and Switch
Monopoly
Bid Rigging
Postponed Violence
Dumping
Quackery
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Location of toxic waste sites and landfills
Toxic Terrorism
Superfund
Cheating on Tests
Edwin Sutherland
Social Disorganization
(Next page please)
Religious Affinity Scams
Possible solution to corruption of religion
Paper Entrepreneurism
Insider Trading
Criminogenic
Cooked Books
Front Running
Pump and Dump

Scenario 1

You have worked a lifetime a committed to your spiritual beliefs and covenants. As part of this strong commitment, fifteen years ago you established and opened the “First Church of the Faithful”. You purchased a building to house the Church and administration and it had more than met your needs.

The First Church is in a very conservative town and your institution has welcomed everyone, all faithful including performing marriages of those with various sexual orientations and/or identities. Some of the other institutions have shunned your practices, but this open acceptance has filled the pews and now the size of your congregation is substantial. One issue is most of your congregation is poor and though they try to contribute the institution suffers financially too. Also, in the spirit of support and assistance, you are always trying to find ways to help them get ahead, even if it is just a little.

As always, the issue of financially struggling congregants was brought up to your board of directors, who are all committed members of First Church. Board member Mike Logan spoke up and stated he had some positive experiences investing limited capital with a well-established financial advisor Scott Stern. As the institution’s leader, you request Mike Logan, who you have always trusted, contact Scott Stern and schedule a meeting

You met with Scott Stern and found him warm, engaging, knowledgeable and appears to clearly understand the congregant’s position and struggles. He proposes to assist congregants investing in some stable commodities and within six months there should be substantial earnings, at least 45% of the initial investment. He stated that even with minimal investments there should be decent return to cash out or reinvest. Mike Logan attended the meeting and continued to endorse Scott Stern’s suggestions. He showed you many positive testimonials from other institutions that followed the plan to assist congregants. He further stated that he is confident your congregants will have similar if not better results. You invited him to speak to the congregation and he and Mike Logan spoke and follow-uped with an email blast regarding the investment opportunities.

As a result of the efforts, the congregants are excited to invest in the faith and hope of big returns. Many invested thousands of dollars with Scott Stern, though it was really not something they could afford. Their investing was predicated by the trust in the institution and the endorsement of the First Church.

As the weeks and months passed, Mike Logan kept congregants regularly informed and showed all kinds of graphs and charts on the stellar performance of their investments. Some congregants were in financial binds and wished to cash in, but Mike Logan told them to hang on because of fees and tax penalties they would end up losing their initial investment. Eight months passed and Congregants were getting angry since there were no returns and they could not access their accounts. Also, Mike Logan gradually stopped providing information, then he disappeared, nowhere to be found.

Not only did Mike Logan disappear, so did Scott Stern along with the congregant’s investments. You are devastated for your congregant’s losses and feel betrayed by a trusted board member. Your first thought is to notify law enforcement.

You contact your local law enforcement and they ask if this was a church sanctioned activity. You explain you provided the investment opportunity to congregant’s and a church board member facilitated the process. Law enforcement suggested that you should contact the state prosecutor’s office, which you do. After contacting a plethora of agencies, no action taken and your congregants are angry and devastated as they lost every penny. You ensure your congregants you never want to see something like this occur in the future and are working on solutions.

Religious institutions are often used for unscrupulous financial gain, so often that there is a specific name for this type of scam. Please discuss this practice and why is this institution venerable?

Please discuss the cost society experiences as a result of misdeeds committed by established and trusted institutions.

1-3) If you were the director of the First Church and in order to prevent future incidents of corruption, what actions would you take regarding the structure of the church’s Board of Directors?