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White Collar Crime Unit
In 1997 alone, due to a lack of resources and the specific expertise
required, this Office was unable to adequately respond to requests for
assistance in so-called "white collar crime" cases from not
only the United States Secret Service, but also the City of Atlanta
Fraud Unit, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, and the Department
of Agriculture-not to mention the citizens of Fulton County. Without
a staff trained and given the resources to do so, the District Attorney's
Office was unable to aggressively pursue complex financial crimes or,
in some cases, even to assist the efforts of other agencies. Opportunities
were also being missed for revenue generation through asset forfeiture,
recouping of funds from welfare fraud, and victim restitution.
Recognizing this as a serious and unacceptable disability, District
Attorney Paul Howard created a White Collar Crime Unit in early 1998.
The unit is responsible for the prosecution of financial crimes such
as embezzlement and fraud, computer and internet-related crimes, and
other crimes of special sensitivity such as identity theft. The Unit
is staffed by a Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney, one senior
assistant district attorney, and two experienced white-collar crime
investigators.
Within a few weeks of its founding, the White Collar Crime Unit had
a full caseload. While many of these cases involve embezzlement, the
Unit has also undertaken several internal investigations at the request
of various departments within Fulton County government (for example,
the high-profile investigation of the Tax Assessor's Office). In addition,
the White Collar Crime Unit has prosecuted a former Georgia Power employee
for the theft of over $500,000; an Alpharetta movie theatre manager
for stealing $75,000 in proceeds from the opening of "Spider Man";
several fraudulent securities brokers who together bilked nearly $6
million from their victims; a local attorney accused of stealing money
from his clients; and a "Casanova Con Man" who defrauded numerous
female victims with whom he had romantic relationships.
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