Page 168 - ACFE Fraud Reports 2009_2020

Case Results

Participants were asked to provide information on how each victim organi-

zation responded to the perpetrators after the frauds had been detected.

We sought to measure whether victim organizations took Cases Referred to Law Enforcement
legal action against the perpetrators, and if so, what their
level of success was. If no legal action was taken, we wanted
to determine why that decision was made. We also sought Yes
to determine how successful organizations were in recov-
ering losses caused by occupational fraud. 29.4%
($100,000) No
Criminal Prosecutions

In 70.6% of the cases we reviewed the victim organization 70.6%
referred the case to law enforcement authorities. The me- ($200,000)
dian loss in those cases was $200,000, whereas the median
loss was only half as large in cases that were not referred.

For cases that were referred to law enforcement authori-
ties, we asked respondents to provide detail on the out-
come of those criminal cases. A large number of those
cases were still pending at the time of the survey, but we Outcomes of Criminal Prosecutions
received 351 responses where the outcome was known.
Within that group, approximately 15% of the perpetrators
were convicted at trial and another 73.5% pled guilty or no 0.3% Acquitted
contest to their crimes. There was only one case in which 11.4%
the perpetrator was acquitted. Declined
to Prosecute
14.8% Convicted
at Trial
Pled Guilty/
73.5% No Contest

70.6% of victim
organizations referred
their case to law
enforcement.

ACFE Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse