Peter Goldmann

When I was 15, my mom told me I'd never be a writer (guess I made the mistake of letting her read a high school paper I'd been struggling with)... My mom is smart, but I guess not that smart; I've been making a living by writing for over 30 years.

I always had a certain fascination with business, so that's what I ended up writing about. At one point during a stint at a privately-owned business newsletter publishing company, I interviewed an executive of the National White-Collar Crime Center. The article was about how small business owners can protect themselves against fraud. We published the article and next thing I know the executive invites me to speak at a national conference on fraud. There I learn that she was also publishing a newsletter on fraud for police officers. But she had no publishing experience so she asked if I'd please help her edit, produce and distribute the publication. No problem. Long story short I ended up relieving her of her publishing burden by purchasing the newsletter. That was in 1996. The publication was (and still is) called White-Collar Crime Fighter.

So for the past 13+ years, I've been interviewing ex-convicts, FBI agents, Secret Service investigators, forensic accountants, attorneys, judges and academics who know stuff about fraud. It's been a fascinating ride. You think you've heard it all and then you learn of a case where someone has committed such an ingenious yet heinous fraud you wonder, "What next?"

So now, in addition to publishing the newsletter, I'm writing books about fraud. Some of this material can get pretty technical--especially when you're talking about the bizarre securities frauds dreamed up by Wall Street geniuses who basically sold their souls to the devil and make a living--a rather lavish one at that-- by selling paper to people who don't really know what they 're buying.

The big question I've been asking people for years is when will the big bosses at Fortune 500 companies finally realize that their organizations are crawling with thieves and get off the dime and do something about it. If I ever get the answer, maybe I'll write a book about it....