In the United States, W. Michael Kramer has specialized in the investigation and civil prosecution of commercial bribery (“kickback”) cases. His clients have included many Fortune 500 corporations, among them some of the largest public utilities in the country, major retailers, and multi-national oil and gas companies.
Outside the United States, Mr. Kramer has conducted corruption and fraud investigations on several continents for multi-national clients and the largest international aid organizations in the world.
Investigations are done to the highest professional and ethical standards with the assistance, as needed, of experienced professionals, including former senior law enforcement officials in the United States and elsewhere.
On Fraud and Corruption
According to the World Bank, $2.7 billion a day, or more than a trillion dollars a year, is paid in bribes. These payments are a problem not just because they end up in the pockets of greedy officials, or because they are a drain on on the projects, but because they set in motion a chain of events – the selection of unqualified contractors, the gross inflation of prices, the delivery of substandard goods or of nothing at all – that defeats development and adds to unproductive debt. In fact, corruption and its offspring are now widely acknowledged to be the single greatest impediment to development.
From the World Bank:
The consequences of corruption for economic and social development are detrimental. Corruption deters investment and hinders growth. It spurs inequality and erodes macroeconomic and fiscal stability. It reduces the impact of development assistance and provides an incentive to exploit natural resources, further depleting our environmental assets. It reduces the effectiveness of public administration and distorts public expenditure decisions, channeling urgently needed resources away from sectors such as health and education to corruption-prone sectors or personal enrichment. It erodes the rule of law and harms the reputation of ad trust in the state.
In short, it increases wealth for the few at the expense of society as a whole, leaving the poor suffering the harshest consequences.