(By Jack Bigelow) Colleagues Daven Morrison and Joe Koletar have kicked off a discussion of lessons learned from the Richard Nixon resignation of 40 years ago (see their posts below).  Daven describes the behavior of deception (behavior exercised in spades throughout the sordid Watergate coverup leading to the President’s resignation as impeachment and trial were looming ).  Joe dives into some of the behavioral forensics in this case, noting that we all practice deception of one kind or another.

Which raises the question of when does deception descend into outright fraud?  And why do we allow ourselves to make choices that drive seemingly innocent deceptions (a la make-up, special effects, etc.) to illegal activities leading to criminal prosecution, potential impeachment, prison, fines, and the downfall of an administration?

My own musings suggest that fraud as we usually see it is a form of deception with the objective of illegal financial gain.  But not all gains are financial.  In the case of Nixon, the deception of covering up a crime committed was also a form of fraud.  In this case, the potential (and temporary) gain was the preservation of political power through re-election.  Post- election, the gain was preservation of political power and prestige through keeping the crime hidden from public view.  Power and prestige were both lost when the facts came out.  The whole Watergate episode is an example of deception run amok to the point of criminal behavior.

My conclusion then, up for discussion, is that deception crosses “the thin line” into fraud (for financial, power, prestigious, and other gains) at the instant that the behavior breaks the law.

But the question remains:  Why do people give themselves permission to allow that morphing to take place?  Some answers can be extracted from the book, A.B.C.s of Behavioral Forensics (Wiley, 2013). I invite my colleagues, the authors of that book, to offer their thoughts.

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.