Chapter 24
Ten Entertaining Portrayals of Fraud
In This Chapter
Getting lost in a good book
Enjoying some fraud-filled films
For all the negative adjectives that apply to fraud, we can think of at least one positive adjective: entertaining. Fraudsters can be larger-than-life characters, and their antics, as despicable as they may be, often prove fascinating. That’s probably why so many books, movies, and TV shows derive their plots from fraud cases.
In this chapter, we offer just a sampling of the choices you have if you’re looking for a break from your forensic accounting studies but don’t want to stray too far from the subject matter.
The Fly on the Wall
This novel by Tony Hillerman was first published in 1971. Reporter John Cotton learns of something fishy going on at the state highway and parks commissions. A colleague was murdered for starting this investigation. To dig up the abuses, Cotton uses forensic accounting techniques. First, he researches all the corporations involved. Some of his searches lead to familiar names, such as the business owners, who happen also to be politicians and others working for the government. Cotton then goes through all the paperwork on some contracts for building highways and concessions at the parks. He compares amounts of cement mixture ...
