 Co-offending in white-collar crime: Social Learning Theory and the coming together of Plutus Payroll fraudPaul Andon and Clinton Free Chapter 11 in Research Handbook on Fraud and Society, 2026, pp 183-214 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: The Plutus Payroll case represents one of the largest fraud scandals in Australian history, resulting in over A$105m being siphoned from the Australian Taxation Office between 2014 and 2017. This chapter examines the Plutus fraud through the lens of Social Learning Theory, focusing on its genesis and early operations to provide insights into how co-offending fraud emerges and becomes normalised. The study explores the interplay of personality, ambition, and social dynamics within the network of conspirators, highlighting the mechanisms of differential association, reinforcement, and resource complementarity that facilitated the scheme's development. Furthermore, it underscores the role of overlapping professional and personal networks, the strategic exploitation of regulatory loopholes, and the misuse of corporate structures in evading detection. By dissecting these dynamics, this research advances the understanding of white-collar co-offending, offering theoretical and practical implications for fraud prevention and regulatory enforcement. Keywords: Fraud; Social learning theory; Plutus payroll; Tax fraud (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24044_11 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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