My guess is that most white collar crimes are already being detected, and the perpetrators are generally getting caught, albeit not as quickly as society would

My guess is that most white collar crimes are already being detected, and the perpetrators are generally getting caught, albeit not as quickly as society would like. I don't think this is any where near the truth in the finance world. It's well known that wall street has long drawn the brightest graduates from the best universities in the world. If you read up on how many times the SEC came close to busting Madoff over the years but couldn't quite connect the dots it's pretty shocking and also very clear that the smartest guys go to make the money, not play cop for the SEC. From the NYT article about it: In the interview, Mr. Madoff said that the young investigators who pestered him over incidentals like e-mail messages should have just checked basics like his account with Wall Street’s central clearinghouse and his dealings with the firms that were supposedly handling his trades. “In the interview, Mr. Madoff said that the young investigators who pestered him over incidentals like e-mail messages should have just checked basics like his account with Wall Street’s central clearinghouse and his dealings with the firms that were supposedly handling his trades. “If you’re looking at a Ponzi scheme, it’s the first thing you do,” he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/business/31sec.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/business/31sec.html