pandemic-led financial stress could lead to an increase in fraud and corporate misconduct—the hallmark of similar crisis periods in the past, experts have warned.Struggling companies often face pressure to dress up earnings to understate threats to their viability or to secure financing during a downturn.
Besides, the general tendency of companies to attribute an angle of criminality while taking legal action in an otherwise civil dispute to put pressure on the other party for settlement will also play out in hard times, experts added.White-collar crimes typically include money-laundering, improper payments to officials, dressing up books, insider trading, diversion of funds and, in many cases, frauds perpetrated by employees against the.