Y 4.589/195/69 95-2 HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY NINETY-FIFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON WHITE-COLLAR CRIME JUNE 21, JULY 12, AND 19, AND DECEMBER 1, 1978 Serial No. 69 25-587 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1979 JACK BROOKS, Texas ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN, New York ALLEN E. ERTEL, Pennsylvania ANTHONY C. BEILENSON, California ROBERT MCCLORY, Illinois Cressey, Dr. Donald R., University of California_.. 31, 108 Prepared statement__. 108 Degnan, John J., attorney general for the State of New Jersey. 202 Prepared statement_ 196 Del Tufo, U.S. attorney for New Jersey.. Edelhertz, Herbert, Battelle Law and Justice Study Center, Seattle, Wash_ Fiske, Robert, U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York..... Geis, Gilbert, University of California, Program in Social Ecology. WHITE-COLLAR CRIME WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1978 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The subcommittee met at 9:15 a.m. in room 2226 of the Raybuurn House Office Building; Hon. John Conyers, Jr. (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding. Present: Representatives Conyers, Gudger, and Ertel. Staff present: Hayden Gregory, counsel; Steven G. Raikin, assistant counsel; and Roscoe Stovall, associate counsel. Mr. CONYERS. Good morning. The subcommittee will come to order. OPENING STATEMENT BY HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR. Today, we begin a lengthy and comprehensive series of general oversight hearings on the subject of "White-Collar Crime: the Problem and the Federal Response." For the past 10 months, the subcommittee staff has been hard at work preparing a long-range scenario for whitecollar crime hearings which will last for at least the next 18 months. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime, I have decided that we should take on this awesome task because it has become glaringly clear to me that white-collar is the most serious, all-pervasive, insidious crime problem in America today. In terms of the cynicism and disrespect for the law which the present general tolerance of white-collar crime engenders, white-collar crime destroys the moral fabric of our cultural values. Such losses cannot really be measured in terms of dollars and cents. But what few statistics are available are staggering. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress have conservatively estimated that the price to the American public of white-collar crime-not including antitrust violations such as pricefixing and not including fraud against Government programs-is roughly $44 billion per year. This compares with a figure of $4 billion per year for all street crimes against property. Forty-four billion dollars per year. That is more money than the U.S. Government's fiscal year 1977 total actual outlays for the Departments of Energy, HUD, State, Transportation, Commerce. Interior, Justice, NASA, and Civil Defense, and for the Executive Offices of the President-combined. And when we consider the late Senator Phil Hart's estimate that when corporate antitrust violations such as price-fixing (which is a felony) are added in that the total approaches or even exceeds $200 |