(By Dr. Sri Ramamoorti) I was particularly struck by the following comments in that article (see previous post), which are uncannily reminiscent of the comments I made during the Q&A period at an FBI panel session that Vic [Hartman] moderated in Indianapolis in late August this year.

“Even now that prosecutors are examining repeat offenses on Wall Street, they are likely to seek punishments more symbolic than sweeping. Top executives are not expected to land in prison, nor are any problem banks in jeopardy of shutting down.”

I still do not understand why it is so difficult to impose “personal accountability,” except that I did read in the same article that the banks are retaining the finest lawyers to protect and defend their interests. We have entered an interesting era in corporate governance where lawyers will determine whether anyone will be held responsible for the most egregious offenses. By focusing on ultimate root cause of fraud and white collar crime–the human being(s) behind the perpetrated acts–we have persuasively argued in our A.B.C.’s of Behavioral Forensics book that the entire discussion must necessarily focus on the human element.

Join us for more insights into behavioral forensics (behind fraud and similar white collar crimes) from the authors of ABCs of Behavioral Forensics (Wiley, 2013): Sri Ramamoorti, Ph. D., Daven Morrison, M.D., and Joe Koletar, D.P.A., along with Vic Hartman, J.D.  These distinguished experts come from the disciplines of psychology, medicine, accounting, law, and law enforcement to explain and prevent fraud.  Because we are inspired to bring to light and address the fraud problems in today’s headlines, we encourage our readers to come back and revisit us regularly at BringingFreudtoFraud.com.