by Brian Mahany
As the Dow Jones industrial index pushes new highs and comes off the longest winning streak in 17 years, I paused to think today why our phones continue to ring off the hook with new fraud claims. When the markets and economy collapsed in 2007 & 2008, many Ponzi schemes were exposed. Desperate people do desperate things so the rise in fraud crimes wasn’t surprising. Today, however, the housing market is on the mend. The stock market has also recovered and then some. So why does economic crime continued unabated?
Some would argue that capitalism is broken or not the answer. I disagree. It’s human greed. The rich get richer not because of some fundamental flaw with our economic system. They get richer because of greed and avarice.
How Pope Francis and the Roman Catholic Church will survive the next several generations remains to be seen but I was gratified to hear in his opening remarks that the Church needs to be “for the poor.” This is the same Pope who took a bus and paid his hotel bill in person. The Pope’s humility is a lesson for us all.
We are fraud and tax lawyers and don’t think for one second that we have all the answers to the world’s problems. How society and government meets the challenges of our economy is of critical importance, however. As lawyers, we are committed to eliminating injustices and leveling the playing field. That means routing out corruption and holding fraudsters and businesses that go astray accountable.
Unfortunately, many politicians are susceptible to the same insatiable greed for riches and power that motivates corporate criminals. Luckily, we live in a society where juries composed of ordinary Americans have the final word.
As long as we have concerned citizens that are willing to come forward, honest judges and folks willing to serve on juries, we still have a chance. Mahany & Ertl is honored to represent whistleblowers and help in the fight against greed, fraud and corruption.
If you have information about a fraud against the government or taxpayers or have been the victim of a fraud yourself, give us a call. We specialize in whistleblower cases under the false claims act and cases against stockbrokers, accountants, lawyers, and large banks.
For more information, contact attorney Brian Mahany at or by telephone at (414) 704-6731 (direct). All calls are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept in strict confidence.
Mahany & Ertl – America’s Fraud Lawyers. Offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Detroit, Michigan; Portland, Maine; Minneapolis, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Fraud recovery available in many jurisdictions.
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