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Fraud always involves deception. With increasing frequency, we are beset by fraud-laced schemes. Remember the Wells-Fargo banking scandal in which two million fake customer accounts were created?
Here’s an even more jaw-dropping example of pseudo-capitalism, from Germany.
A man bombed a soccer team’s bus, allegedly, but first, he rigged the market.
The perpetrator borrowed shares of a soccer team’s stock. Then he bombed the team’s bus, injuring one person.
He assumed his bomb would trigger a drop in public confidence and therefore stock price. This should allow him to repay his recently borrowed block of shares, with shares purchased at the now-lower price. His expected profit? Over one million Euros. This stock market trick is called selling short.
Fortunately, detectives searching for the bomber wised up to his financial motive.
Sometimes, crooks act surprisingly like legitimate stock traders and corporate executives. And vice versa.
– Jim Sawyer, Boulder CO.
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