Telling lies, and falling for them, is one of the things that makes us human. The vast majority of these falsehoods are harmless and perfectly legal. But when someone deceives another for material gain or profit, inflicting injury in the process, we give this kind of lie a special label: fraud. Most people are familiar with the concept and understand that fraud is prohibited by law. What many fail to appreciate, however, is that the law does not treat all frauds equally. If you defraud an individual, you might end up in prison. On the other hand, if you defraud millions of people–what Wes Henricksen calls fraud on the public–you might end up wealthy or powerful, or even get elected president. In a perverse sense, the bigger the fraud, the more likely it is protected by the First Amendment and therefore legal. As a result, many of the largest and most destructive fraud schemes are allowed, encouraged, and richly rewarded.

In Fraud We Trust: How Leaders in Politics, Business, and Media Profit from Lies-and How to Stop Them PDF

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