The following actual fraud occurred in a communications company. What Ruth Mishkin did in her spare time didn’t concern the Boca Raton, Florida, public relations firm where she worked very much. “We thought she was just playing cards with the girls,” says Ray Biagiotti, president of Communications Group, the firm that had employed her for nine years.
She had become such a trusted employee that her bosses had put her in charge of paying bills, balancing bank accounts, and handling other cash management chores. They didn’t realize their mistake until Ruth took a sick leave, and they discovered she had been pocketing company funds for years. The money had helped stoke a gambling habit that took the 60- year-old widow on junkets to casinos in the Bahamas, Monte Carlo, and Las Vegas. In all, the company claims she stole about $320,000.
Ruth pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft and four counts of check forgery. She was placed on 10 years’ probation and ordered to attend meetings of a chapter of Gamblers Anonymous, the national self-help group.
1. What were Ruth’s perceived opportunities?
2. What pressure did Ruth have to commit fraud?
3. How did the fact that Ruth was a trusted employee give her more opportunity to commit fraud?
4. How do vices such as gambling motivate people to commit fraud?