Rebecca Platsky found fraud at her own desk. Working as a certified public accountant, she learned that an executive at her company had been named a defendant in a high-profile fraud trial. She flagged it to her team on Slack with a link to an article carrying his name in the headline.
Platsky, who graduated from Binghamton University in 2012 and took a master’s in 2013, now hosts the “Corporate Gossip” podcast, which has more than 200,000 followers across social media. On October 7 she showed that Slack screenshot to School of Management students in the Anderson Center’s Osterhout Concert Theater. The occasion was the 37th annual Abraham J. Briloff Lecture Series on Accountability and Society. Her co-host, comedian Robby Slowik, joined her, and the evening felt like a live recording.
The fraud triangle
“One thing that fascinates me about fraud is that it’s accessible,” Platsky said. “Anybody can do it, even if you think you’re a really good person.”
She walked through well-known cases, some that ended in long prison sentences and some where the people escaped blame. Many experts, she noted, call this the “golden age of fraud.” She took in recent schemes by Sam Bankman-Fried and Charlie Javice. In each, she argued, three elements were at work: pressure, opportunity and rationalization, which she calls the fraud triangle. At the end she quizzed the audience on a case, and they could pick out which factor was which.
“What I hope we’ve done today is given you a tool that you can have in your back pocket,” she said. “Use the fraud triangle to stay out of trouble.”
A former student returns
Kimberly Jaussi, an associate professor in the School of Management, taught Platsky as a student and introduced her on stage. They have kept in touch for more than a decade. “At this point, she’s like family,” Jaussi said.
Assistant Dean Jerah Reeves moderated a question session with the two hosts. Students asked about fraud, dealing with failure and building a career in entertainment. Asked how to grow an audience, Slowik credited Platsky’s move onto TikTok, where she explained complicated topics with passion.
Dean Shelley Dionne closed the night by presenting Platsky with a recognition award. “Ethics matters,” Dionne said. “It’s a personal choice that can’t be passive.”
