Looting

Whether through deception or destruction, the goal of looters is the same: Ignore the law and social convention to prey on the vulnerable for one's own ...

Or the [Amherst businessman](https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/amherst-businessman-ordered-to-repay-1-2-million-to-scam-victims/article_e48e3070-434b-5328-a0f2-e678b8120a5b.html) who spent two years in prison and was ordered in 2019 to repay $1.275 million he looted from victims of his bond fraud scheme. Smash-and-grab is simply the street version of Ponzi schemes and insider trading, which also lack any larger political purpose – unless you consider “greed is good” to be a new governing ideology. They’re aided and abetted by Republicans in and out of government who fight tooth and nail to stifle the IRS from going after them. It's the code of the streets – both Genesee Street and Wall Street. “The founding fathers use looting as a supplement to protest,” political science adjunct professor and former Justice Department official William F. [the Clarence financial adviser](https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/clarence-investment-adviser-gets-52-months-for-cheating-clients-out-of-1-4m/article_e686cb4f-dfcc-59dd-84a4-0283b44bd4cc.html) sentenced to 52 months in prison in 2019 for looting $1.4 million from his clients’ accounts.