Business Law Today, Comprehensive 10th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 16

White-Collar Crime. Helm Instruction Co. hired Patrick Walsh to work as its comptroller. Walsh convinced Helm's president, Richard Wilhelm, to hire Shari Price as Walsh's assistant. Wilhelm was not aware that Walsh and Price were engaged in an extramarital affair. Over the next five years, Walsh and Price spent more than $200,000 of Helm's funds on themselves. Among other things, Walsh drew unauthorized checks on Helm's accounts to pay his personal credit-card bills. Walsh also issued unauthorized salary increases, overtime payments, and tuition reimbursement payments to Price and himself, altering Helm's records to hide the payments. After an investigation, Helm officials confronted Walsh. He denied the affair with Price and argued that his unauthorized use of Helm's funds was an "interest-free loan." Walsh claimed that it was less of a burden on the company to pay his credit-card bills than to give him the salary increases to which he felt he was entitled. Did Walsh commit a crime If so, what crime did he commit Discuss.