What is Fraud

Fraud is the intentional misrepresentation of the truth for the purpose of gaining something of value from someone else. In other words, when a person lies to gain something of value. There are many different forms of fraud. Usually, a fraud crime has one of these elements:

-      Misrepresentation of a material fact

-      Intention of deceit

-      Second-party believed the misrepresentation

-      Second-party suffered damages due to misrepresentation

A lack of lying is not enough to escape a fraud charge. Omitting the truth is also misrepresentation.

Criminal charges for fraud deal with more than misleading or omitting truths. These charges are usually the subject of an investigation by state or federal agencies. Sometimes authorities look for repeated patterns of suspicious activity. If you’ve been charged, or are under an investigation, you need a criminal defense lawyer by your side unless you want to end up dealing with some serious consequences.

What is Mail Fraud?

Some charges of fraud are state offenses, some are federal offenses, and some can be both. Mail Fraud is a federal offense. Mail Fraud is defined under 18 USC 1341. To be convicted of Mail Fraud, someone needs to:

-      Be engaged in a scheme to defraud

-      There must be material misstatements or omissions

-      The scheme would have resulted in the loss of money, property, or honest services

-      The U.S. Mail must have been used

The use of the mail does not even need to cross state lines. Mailing that occurs totally within one state can still be enough to be charged with this crime.

What is Wire Fraud?

Wire Fraud, along with Mail Fraud, are what federal prosecutors most use when trying to land convictions. Why? Wire and Mail Fraud can be punished severely. A person could get up to 30 years if convicted.

Wire Fraud, like its counterpart, requires a scheme to defraud and many of the same provisions. But, it needs an interstate use of wire transmissions like email, phone, text, or fax.

What is Bank Fraud?

Bank Fraud is using deception to deprive a bank or financial institution of money or assets. Bank Fraud usually involves a deliberate scheme which is created to defraud the bank of money.

There are many actions that can be considered bank fraud, these can be for example:

-      Forgery

-      Fraudulent loan applications

-      Bank impersonation

-      Accounting fraud

Bank Fraud can lead to serious consequences for those convicted. Fines and prison time are almost guaranteed. Fines can reach in the millions and jail time up to 30 years.

Like the other types of fraud detailed above, Bank Fraud convictions come because prosecutors successfully proved that a person willfully and purposefully committed fraud. In other words, their actions must have been committed with the fraud in mind, while misrepresenting or omitting facts, for the goal of some sort of financial gain.



What is Embezzlement Fraud?

Yes, embezzlement is fraud. This type of fraud includes a person misusing funds given to them. Embezzlement typically looks like a person in a company, in charge of a certain amount of money, using that money for personal gain. For example, a company’s account creates false receipts or bills in order to funnel money entrusted to them for personal expenses, or expenses not explicitly within their purview.

What is PPP Fraud?

PPP Fraud is a new form of fraud. It can happen in different ways. For example, a business owner, or person, can claim to have an inflated amount of people on their payroll, they can claim ghost employees, or claim false revenue. All of this could constitute PPP Fraud. You can read more about this kind of fraud by clicking here.

Is Fraud a Felony?

Federal charges for fraud like Wire Fraud, Mail Fraud, and Bank Fraud are all felonies. PPP related fraud charges are also felonies. This means a person could be left dealing with thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and restitution. It also means possible jail time of over 20 years.

When you need expert criminal defense representation: Call Peter McCoy.