One example of such criminal activity is government and corporate corruption, which is "behavior that deviates from the formal duties of a public role because of private-regarding (personal, close family, private clique) pecuniary or status gains, or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private-regarding influence." Categories of government and corporate corruption are bribes (payments to perform jobs improperly); facilitation of payments to minor officials to encourage them to do their jobs properly ("grease"); extortion (payments to persons in authority to avoid damage from hostile actions); and political contributions (payments to political parties linked to favors or threats of retribution in the case of nonpayment). Another form of economic crime is the abuse of aid programs, which involves government officials or private citizens and organizations using aid from other governments or organizations for personal gain in violation of the intentions of the donor. Other economic crimes discussed in this chapter are customs and excise fraud, corporate fraud (theft and false accounting), bank fraud, investment/securities fraud, futures and derivatives fraud, managed off-shore funds, insurance fraud, fraud in international trade, tax evasion and the misuse of tax havens, money laundering, and underground banking. 48 references