4 Possible Defenses for Wire Fraud
Accused of wire fraud? The government thinks you’ve used a cell phone or a computer to intentionally scam someone out of their money, and that your activity has crossed state lines.
Wire fraud is a federal crime. It’s an extension of the older mail fraud charge.
Take the charges seriously, but don’t panic. There are some defenses we can use to help win your wire fraud case.
1. You acted in good faith.
Intent to commit fraud, also known as the “scheme or artifice to defraud” must exist for the charge to stand. You must have knowingly and willfully participated in the scheme.
Our defense here is you acted in good faith, believing your actions were lawful. For example, your boss hatches a scheme you know nothing about. He uses your department to help carry out his scheme.
You participate by doing your job. You have no reason to believe anything’s wrong, because your boss hasn’t asked you to do anything out of the ordinary. This would be a solid unintentional conduct case.
By the way, if you suspect your employer is committing fraud you should line up an attorney before you do anything else. Saying nothing could get you accused, but being a whistleblower can lead to trouble without some solid legal guidance.
See also: 5 Times Your Business Could be Committing Computer Fraud in NY.
2. The prosecution has allowed the statute of limitations to expire.
Wire fraud has a 5 year statute of limitations unless it affects a financial institution. It’s ten years in the latter case.
This one doesn’t come up often as prosecutors are well aware of the statute. Investigators tend to move quickly enough on wire fraud investigations to avoid triggering it.
But if someone made a mistake, we can take advantage of it.
See also: 7 Signs You’re Under Federal Criminal Investigation.
3. The prosecution has insufficient evidence.
This defense revolves around poking holes in the prosecution’s case. When the prosecution’s case is weak we often won’t wait till trial to bring up this defense.
A solid insufficient evidence defense can lead to an acquittal. In some cases it might lead to a prosecutor who drops the charges.
See also: Should You Go to Trial for Federal Criminal Charges?
4. You’re completely innocent of all charges, and we can prove it.
Sometimes, prosecutors get the wrong person. Or accuse you of wire fraud when your actions weren’t fraudulent at all.
If this is the case, our defense would be that you didn’t commit the crime in the first place. We’d build our case around proving that.
See also: 4 Types of Fraud That Require the Help of a NY Computer Fraud Lawyer.
If you’ve been accused, Koch Law can help.
The federal government has mandatory minimum sentences for wire fraud charges. They have a lot of resources to throw at you and they vigorously pursue these types of cases.
If you’ve been accused, you need a very good defense attorney on your side. This isn’t the type of case to trust to a public defender.
Call Koch Law today to set up your consultation. It’s your best chance to preserve your reputation and your freedom.