The Phantom Capitalists

Book excerpt: This book analyzes in detail how and why people become involved in long-firm (planned bankruptcy) fraud, the similarities and differences between long-firm fraud and other crimes, the links between bankruptcy fraudsters and other professional and organized criminals, the techniques that fraudsters use, and the social and commercial relationships that exist within the operational world of the long-firm fraudster. Extensively researched, the study uses interviews with and documentation from businesspeople, credit controllers, lawyers, judges, police, fraud investigators as well as fraudsters themselves. It also makes use of extensive documentary material from contemporary and historical police and court records. Originally published in the 1980s, the revised edition of this seminal work provides a substantial new introduction written by the author to highlight the changing and unchanging relevance of the findings for a contemporary audience, and the ways in which fraud opportunities and the organization of frauds have modified in the intervening years.