by Brian Mahany
Some say that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. Leaving aside whether the sex trade even qualifies as a “profession,” we believe that prostitution certainly wasn’t a crime until relatively recently. There were no “ladies of the night” roaming around during the stone age but fraud was around back then and can be documented throughout history.
As long as humans succumb to greed and envy, there will be fraud and its victims.
We have two choices in life. One is to take a fatalistic view of the world. If you believe that the world is doomed and unjust and believe that you must have more to be happy, you are more prone to just try to get as much out of this world as the situation allows. For many, that involves trickery, lies and deceit.
Others taken a much different view. For those that believe in peace and justice, the world is full of hope.
Unfortunately, all types of people in this world fall victim to fraud. As fraud lawyers, we believe that every struggle for justice, however small, is worth the effort. Any energy spent to relieve someone’s suffering is also worth the effort.
It is highly unlikely that there will be an end to all crime and violence in our lifetime. As I type this post, dozens of family are grieving in Newtown, Connecticut where 27 children and teachers were murdered yesterday. We can’t put an end to suffering but we are willing to fight the good fight one battle at a time.
Barack Obama once said in a speech, “If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.” The world is filled with fraud and fraudsters but we still try our hardest everyday to deliver hope to the victims of fraud.
If you lost your life savings to a Ponzi scheme, invested in a worthless 419 plan or tax shelter, were given bad advice by a stockbroker or investment adviser or were the victim of a probate or estate fraud or forged will, give us a call. There is no charge for the initial consultation. For more information contact attorney Brian Mahany at or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct).
Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and coming soon, San Francisco, California. Services available in many jurisdictions.
[Ed. Note: This post was inspired by Father Tim of Old Saint Mary’s RC Church in Milwaukee who presented me with an unnamed little blue book last Sunday filled with Advent stories]