The Millsaps College Else School of Management Spring Forum will feature Sam Antar, Former CPA and Chief Financial Officer of Crazy Eddie’s Inc. on Monday, March 3, 2008. The event is sponsored by KPMG and Johnson, Bruce, & Host, PLLC.
During the 1980s, Antar helped mastermind one of the largest securities frauds of its time. According to his website (www.whitecollarfraud.com), Antar believes that “former criminals like me must do more than just express regret for our crimes and pay whatever punishment society imposes upon us. I believe that it is our obligation and responsibility to educate society so that society can avoid future perils caused by new generations of criminals.”
Crazy Eddie, Inc. was a consumer electronics chain located in the northeast, notable for its “crazy” advertisements (spoofed on Saturday Night Live) and its incredible fraud. With regard to the fraud, Antar notes:
We committed crime simply because we could. Criminologists like to analyze white collar crime in terms of the 'fraud triangle' -- incentive, opportunity, and rationalization. We had no rationalization. Simply put the incentive and opportunity was there, but the morality and excuses were lacking. We never had one conversation about morality during the 18 years that the fraud was going on.
And
There had never been a financial fraud in history where such combinations of techniques were used to commit such crimes for so long a period of time. The Crazy Eddie fraud would go down in history for its sheer audacity resulting from the brazen and unprecedented methods used by its conspirators in executing their crimes.
A convicted felon for his role in the fraud, Mr. Antar served as the key witness in the prosecution of the Crazy Eddie case. Mr. Antar now dedicates himself to speaking out against white collar crime as an insider who knows exactly how it is committed. Mr. Antar does not take a fee nor any reimbursement for his presentations to educate the public about fraud.
The forum will be held Monday, March 3, in the Leggett Center on the Millsaps College campus. Breakfast will be served at 7:45 a.m., and the program will begin at 8:30. Tickets are $15. For more information, please call 601-974-1250.
