Vocabulary
Study the following vocabulary.
Corruption
insider trading – gaining an unfair, illegal advantage in business by using information that is not publicly available to make investment decisions
price fixing – illegal, secret agreement between two or more companies in the same industry to set prices at the same level in order to avoid competition and fair market pricing
bribe – an illegal payment to someone to persuade them to do something, for example issue a permit or sign a contract (also called a "kickback” or "sweetener”)
counterfeit – term for items, especially bank notes, illegally designed to look like the genuine article in order to profit from their use
fake – more general term for things designed to look like the genuine, original article. Can be criminal, as in fakepaintings by Monet, or non-criminal, as in fake plants in a reception area (here meaning "artificial”)
fraud – general term for the crime of deception, misrepresentation, or otherwise taking advantage of someone for financial gain
embezzlement – illegally taking money from an employer or firm, usually by false or deceptive accounting or billing practices
money laundering – effort to hide the origin or source of illegally acquired money, for example profits from drug dealing, by buying and reselling high-priced items like real estate, or other illegal accounting practices
blackmail – the crime of demanding money from someone under threat of revealing damaging or embarrassing information about them to the public or certain individuals
extortion – the crime of demanding money under threat of physical violence or other criminal activity (i.e., burning down someone's place of bus racketeering)