Fraud Triangle paper

The TV series “Real Housewives of New Jersey” super star Teresa Giudice and husband Joe have been accused of more than 39 counts of Fraud. The Fraud accounts range from mail and wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements on loan applications and bankruptcy fraud. Teresa is obviously a woman that has money and has fame and an image attached with her name. The question is why would she commit fraud with so much going for her? The Fraud Triangle has three different points the non-shareable problem, the opportunity, and the Rationalization which will be the foundation of getting into the minds of Teresa and Joe. The Fraud Triangle can better help us understand why this act could be committed in the first place. The first point of the Triangle is a “Non-sharable Problem” which in Teresa’ case would have to be status gaining. In all the articles I have read Teresa seems to want what a lot of stars want more fame. This is similar to the old saying a man with power only wants one thing and that’s more power. Teresa falsely claimed in a $121,500 mortgage application that she worked for four years at Modern Era investment Corp. earning $3,750 a month, according to the indictment prosecutors contend she actually was unemployed from January 2001 to 2008. Also Joe her husband also failed to file tax returns for 2004 through 2008 when he had earned nearly $1 million.

The Second part of this Triangle would be the Opportunity the trust violator has. Teresa and Joe had all the abilities to commit this Fraud. At the time the crime was committed it was during the housing booming era before the economic crash. It was easier for people to get loans without proving to much of their income. Teresa and Joe obviously knew this when committing this crime and once they had committed the crime it became easier and easier to do it again and again. Their status in society made them able to conduct their crimes they had falsified their income and even the common knowledge made anyone think they had the money to spend. These people do have money but they did lie and they didn’t pay their taxes and those are crimes. The case is still going on but the third and last part of the triangle is the Rationalization of the trust violator. After reading all about Teresa and Joe I believe that they view themselves as essentially non-criminal. They are individuals who do have money and are viewed as TV stars with money. They seem to think they are above the law and that they couldn’t possibly be a criminal just because they think people adore them. All in all they rose to fame and they probably lied about their income and one lie lead to another lie until they eventually thought they were above the law.