Reference no: EM132607054

What George Reeves did in his spare time never concerned the public relations firm where he worked for the past 17 years. He was such a trusted employee that his bosses put him in charge of paying bills, reconciling the check register with the monthly bank statements, and other cash management chores. His bosses did not realize George's creative accounting skills until he had taken a stress related sick leave and the company's internal auditors had discovered that he had pocketed $5,617,373 of company funds over the last 10 years to finance his severe gambling problem. In addition to his gambling woes, George's wife Toni recently gave birth to a baby girl, as did his girlfriend, Lenore. Often, George would go on weekend junkets with company money and most times, Lenore, (which he explained away as business trips) to casinos in Las Vegas, the Bahamas, Monte Carlo, and Atlantic City. George eventually pleaded guilty to one count of larceny and 4 counts of check forgery, for which he received 6 months in prison, 10 years' probation, and ordered to attend weekly meetings at a local chapter of Gamblers' Anonymous.

Question A: How did the fact that George was such a trusted employee give him the opportunity to commit the fraud?

Question B: What pressures did George have to commit the fraud?

Question C: How do addictions like gambling motivate a person to commit fraud?