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Full-Text Articles in Consumer Protection Law
Toward A Multilevel Sociology Of Fraud, Brooke Harrington, Camilo Arturo Leslie
Toward A Multilevel Sociology Of Fraud, Brooke Harrington, Camilo Arturo Leslie
Northwestern University Law Review
This Essay applies a distinctively sociological multilevel analysis to fraud to provide novel insights and recommendations on an old problem. Rather than treating fraud as a problem of “criminogenic environments” or of individual psychologies and motivations, this multilevel analysis investigates the ways in which individuals (the micro level) interact with organizations (the meso level) and institutional systems (the macro level) to produce fraud. We illustrate these interactions and the insight that an interactive analysis can provide by using ethnographic data from an in-depth case study of the R. Allen Stanford offshore financial fraud. The case, which occurred in the Caribbean …
America's Anti-Fraud Ecosystem And The Problem Of Social Trust: Perspectives From Legal Practitioners, Edward J. Balleisen
America's Anti-Fraud Ecosystem And The Problem Of Social Trust: Perspectives From Legal Practitioners, Edward J. Balleisen
Northwestern University Law Review
This contribution revives an autobiographical genre present in law reviews roughly a half-century ago, in which seasoned legal practitioners offered perspective on vital issues. Here, a senior deputy attorney general, a former federal prosecutor, a corporate defense attorney, and a legal aid lawyer each draw on their career experience to explore what they see as significant problems related to the law of consumer and investor fraud and the nature of consumer and investor trust. Their reflections emphasize the significance of law in action—how key actors seek to deploy legal mechanisms related to fraud and adjust their strategies in light of …
Consumer Fraud, Home Financing, And The Erosion Of Trust, Linda E. Fisher
Consumer Fraud, Home Financing, And The Erosion Of Trust, Linda E. Fisher
Northwestern University Law Review
Consumer fraud is a civil violation of a remedial statute not requiring specific intent to deceive. Most consumer fraud statutes define violations as unconscionable, misleading, or deceptive practices irrespective of intent, in derogation of the principle of caveat emptor. They do not apply to business-to-business transactions. Trust plays a central role in business-to-consumer transactions. Because consumers are individuals, there is often an inherent inequality in consumer transactions. Sophisticated marketing techniques—especially target marketing that follows potential customers all over the internet—hound consumers’ online lives and manipulate purchasing decisions. The increasing monetization of almost everything exacerbates these effects. This transactionalism itself erodes …
The Persistent Limits Of Fraud Prevention In Historical Perspective, Emily Kadens
The Persistent Limits Of Fraud Prevention In Historical Perspective, Emily Kadens
Northwestern University Law Review
Fraud has been ubiquitous throughout history, and so have the methods of fraud prevention. History demonstrates that no anti-fraud measures have fully succeeded in eliminating deceptive market behavior. Instead, this Essay uses evidence from premodern England to argue that societies and individual contracting parties balance tolerating a certain amount of fraud against the costs of fraud prevention.
Auditing Overseas: How The United States Can Learn From Recent Financial Audit Reform In The United Kingdom, Daniel Damitio
Auditing Overseas: How The United States Can Learn From Recent Financial Audit Reform In The United Kingdom, Daniel Damitio
Northwestern University Law Review
Financial auditing is one of the cornerstones of an effective capital market structure. When performed correctly, an independent financial audit provides investors with the security they need to effectively transact based on company disclosures. When this system fails, however, the results for investors and the economy as a whole can be devastating. In recognition of this danger, the market for financial auditing in the United States is regulated by a number of governmental and nongovernmental bodies charged with maintaining its health and effectiveness. But stakeholders within the U.S. market and government have criticized these regulators for failing to adequately respond …