The difference between white collar crime and corporate crime are very slight. White collar crime is usually conducted by people and corporate crimes are conducted by an organization. White collar crime is usually conducted by higher classed individuals such as CEO's or high level employee's of an organization. The individuals utilize the organization in order to exploit the company's investors or employee's. A corporate crime utilizes the organization to break the laws. The individuals who conduct white collar crimes usually work for high end organizations with access to investor funds. Corporate crimes can be committed by any corporation. The main difference between white collar crime and corporate crime would be that white collar crime is conducted by individuals who work for a company and corporate crime is conducted by the corporation in a whole.
An example of white collar crime would be the Enron scandal that took place from 1985 until 2001. Enron was an energy company which utilized a complex business model which confused even professional analysts and share holders. Enron was formed in 1985 by Kenneth Lay. Kenneth Lay and a staff of executives used accounting loopholes and poor financial reporting in order to steal large sums of money from shareholders. The shareholders filed a $40 billion dollar lawsuit. Enron was a major white collar crime case that revolved around accounting fraud. Enron was investigated for five years. The five year investigation led to jury convictions of top Enron officials who enriched themselves by cheating investors with sham accounting. Enron sold energy to California for inflated rates. The higher executives of the company manipulated its quarterly earning statements to keep Wall Street happy and its stock price afloat. Due to these actions employee's lost their retirements, their health insurance, and their livelihoods. The Enron case was white collar crime due to the high level