ABSTRACT
Investigation and prevention of financial crime is not a new phenomenon. Henning found that the general crime of falsity in Roman-Dutch law several centuries ago had a much greater ambit than the present-day fraud. He argues that had it survived, it would have been very valuable to combat current financial crime more effectively. Rather than providing a religious analysis, however, a psychological account is offered of how ordinary people sometimes turn evil and commit illegal acts. As part of this account, the Lucifer Effect tells the story behind the Stanford prison experiment. The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands existed between 1581 and 1795 with laws explicitly punishing a variety of financial crime categories. Organizational goals can easily perceive as absolute requirements, so that they could justify almost any means used to fulfil them. Size and diffusion of responsibility as well as the hierarchical structure of large business corporations might foster conditions that make financial crime attractive to organizational members.
