Question

Ch. 7 - Theft. The head of CompTac's accounting department, Roy Olson, has to pay his daughter's college tuition within a week or his daughter will not be able to continue taking classes. The payment due is more than $20,000. Roy would be able to make the payment in two months but cannot do so until then. The college refuses to wait that long. In desperation, Roy—through a fictitious bank account and some clever accounting—“borrows” funds from CompTac. Before Roy can pay back the borrowed funds, an auditor discovers what Roy did. CompTac's president alleges that Roy has “stolen” company funds and informs the police of the theft. Has Roy committed a crime? If so, what crime did he commit? Explain. (See Crimes Affecting Business.)

Answer 1

Yes, misrepresenting the facts and using false or fictitious information to gain the economic benefits constitute the elements of the crime. As in the given case, Roy tried to take the loan from CompTac with the help of a fictitious bank account and some clever accounting, so this can be treated as criminal intent.

The type of crime that was committed can be stated as civil fraud in which some sort of deception or intentional misrepresentation is committed by the person. This can be further specified as financial statement fraud in which the financial information is provided using the false means.