|
English word |
English Definition |
English Example sentence |
| 1 |
to be corrupt |
to make decisions based on financial gain rather than moral
considerations |
The politician was corrupt, receiving money from the oil
companies. |
| 2 |
to take a bribe |
to accept money in exchange for a favor |
The senator took a bribe in exchange for voting to legalize
nuclear waste disposal in his district. |
| 3 |
to be on the take |
to be receiving money in exchange for favors you are doing |
He's on the take, you can't trust any decision he makes. |
| 4 |
to take a kickback |
to receive an illegal payment as a result of making a certain
decision |
He took a kickback from the energy company after he approved
their plans for a new plant in the area. |
| 5 |
to deceive ~ |
to make a person or group believe something that is not the
truth |
He deceived the government by keeping all of his money in
secret foreign bank accounts. |
| 6 |
to embezzle ~ |
to secretly steal money from your employer |
He embezzled millions of dollars over the course of two
decades. |
| 7 |
to defraud ~ |
to steal peoples' money by means of lying to them |
He told the old widow that he needed $5,000 to fix her roof,
but it really only cost a few hundred dollars; he defrauded
her. |
| 8 |
to swindle ~ |
to lie to someone and cause them to lose money or value |
The pizza was supposed to be 25cm in diameter, but it was only
23cm; Pizza-La swindled me out of 2cm! |
| 9 |
to tarnish ~ |
to make a person or group's image bad or untrustworthy |
The embezzling scandal tarnished the reputation of the
company. |
| 10 |
to run rampant |
of a behavior or activity, to be very common and
unregulated |
Secret meetings and bribes run rampant in the Russian
government. |
| 11 |
to be immoral |
to be wrong or evil from a moral standpoint |
Lending money to people who cannot possibly pay it back is
immoral. |
| 12 |
to be tainted by ~ |
to be made a bit bad by the presence of a certain activity or
behavior |
New York is a beautiful city, but the downtown area is tainted
by homelessness and drug addiction. |
| 13 |
insider trading |
a criminal activity in which stock buyers and sellers exchange
secret information |
Due to insider trading, he was able to sell all of his stock in
the company just before the value decreased immensely. |
| 14 |
white collar crime |
a criminal activity that involves making an illegal profit by
using banking, accounting, or stock-exchange systems |
White collar crime is difficult to track because the banking
system is so complex. |
| 15 |
tax evasion |
avoiding tax payment illegally |
He practiced tax evasion by keeping all of his money in secret
Swiss bank accounts. |
| 16 |
to buy off ~ |
to give someone money in exchange for their keeping silent or
allowing you to continue breaking the law |
He bought off the police in the small town so he could
basically do whatever he wanted. |
| 17 |
to launder money |
to hide the original source of money obtained illegally |
The drug dealer made millions of dollars a year; he had to
launder that money to avoid being noticed by the IRS. |
| 18 |
to cast an ugly shadow |
of a scandal or event, to remain in the public mind and
contribute to a bad image of a company or organization |
The predatory lending practices in the American economy still
cast an ugly shadow over that industry, years later. |
| 19 |
to siphon off ~ |
to steal just a little bit of money, usually by electronic
means |
He siphoned off one penny of every transaction and put it in
his personal account. |
| 20 |
to blackmail ~ |
to threaten to tell a secret about someone unless they do
something for you |
They decided to blackmail the politician, demanding that he
grant them a wage increase. |
| 21 |
to cook the books |
to alter financial records in order to hide a secret |
After he embezzled money, he cooked the books so all the
transactions would appear normal. |