In concluding this chapter, we examine a famous fraud case. Jerry Schneider, at age 21,
was the model West Coast business executive, bright and well educated. Schneider differed
from this image in only one respect—starting in 1971, he embezzled over $1 million
from Pacific Telephone Company. Here is the story of his fraud.
Jerry Schneider’s fraud had its genesis at a warm, open-air evening party where
he and some friends had gathered for drinks, socializing, and small talk. Schneider
was the young president of his own electronics corporation. This night, the talk
was of organized crime and whether or not it could be profitable. “All these press
stories of the big-time killings, and the crooks who build palaces down in Florid