Caught in a Mail Fraud Scheme? Here's What You Should Do!

Mail fraud is defined as the use of the U.S. Postal Service in any criminal attempt to gain money or things of value. The original crime carries its own penalties in addition to the penalties involved with mail fraud, regardless of whether the original crime is tax fraud, health care fraud, or any other number of possible offenses.

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In order for a federal prosecutor to convict a defendant of 18 U.S.C. section 1341, they have to prove the defendant made materially false representations or promises with the intent to defraud another, and used the mail to accomplish the fraud. Put simply, the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that all of the following:

There was a scheme to commit fraud; The defendant used the mail to advance their plan; and The defendant had a specific intent to commit fraud. Federal statute 18 U.S.C. 1342 includes in a mail fraud crime of the use of a fictitious name or address for a fraudulent scheme.

Fraud schemes often involve multiple actors. It may be that a defendant simply placed a letter in the mail at the direction of their employer, or another individual. If you can show you weren't a part of the fraudulent scheme itself, your facilitation of the scheme by mailing the letter is not enough to convict you of Mail Fraud.

The prosecution must prove its existence beyond a reasonable doubt, to convict an individual of mail fraud. Therefore, if the defense can prove there is a lack of intent to commit fraud, the prosecution will not be able to make the charges stick.

Mail fraud has a guilty-mental-state requirement that prosecutors must prove. Put simply, they have to show the defendant's specific intent was to defraud another. In other words, proving what they were thinking. Specific intent is not always easy to prove as it has to show a defendant's state-of-mind.

The federal prosecutor must prove the defendant knew that the information relayed through the mail was false and they intended the fraud victim to rely on that false information. A defendant's actual knowledge, their state of mind and intent, and materiality of statements are all important issues on where to plan a strategy of defense.

Mail Fraud does not refer to a specific type of fraudulent scheme. Rather, it is simply the crime of facilitating a fraudulent scheme or conduct by utilizing the U.S. Mail. There are two elements to the federal crime of Mail Fraud: (1) devising or intending to devise a scheme to defraud, or performing specific fraudulent acts, and; (2) using the mail for the specific purpose of executing the scheme of the fraudulent acts.

For example, suppose party A decides to defraud party B by purporting to sell a piece of property to B which A does not own. In the course of convincing B to forward the purchase money, A sends several letters to B containing false deeds, etc. showing A's ownership of the property. B relies on the information in these letters and sends the money to A. A can be charged with defrauding B as to the property sale, but also with Mail Fraud as A utilized the mail for the purpose of attempting to execute the scheme.

United States Code Section 1341 provides punishment for anyone involved in an attempt to fraud or swindle, who places in a post office mail any material to be delivered by the Postal Service. It also includes any commercial interstate carrier in an attempt to fraud or swindle. It states that a person will be imprisoned for up to 20 years. In addition, any violation that impacts a financial institution can lead to a prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine up to $1 million dollars or both.

Now let's talk about how much prison time you could be facing under the U.S. sentencing guidelines.

The U.S. sentencing guidelines for fraud are laid out in Section 2B1.1, titled "Larceny, Embezzlement, and Other Forms of Theft; Fraud, Deceit and Forgery. The penalties for fraud under federal law may include:

Imprisonment: Up to 30 years in federal prison and Fines Up to $1,000,000.

Restitution Compensation to the victim and Asset Forfeiture and Seizure of assets involved in the fraud and Long-term effects on personal and professional reputation.

Loss of $500,000: This loss amount corresponds to an increase of 14 levels in the offense level calculation. Loss of $2,000,000: This larger loss would result in an increase of 18 levels.

For a first-time offender, the total offense level would be calculated by considering various factors, including the base offense level, specific offense characteristics, and any applicable adjustments.

Assuming a base offense level of 7 (typical for fraud offenses under USSG 2B1.1) and no other adjustments other then dollar loss

With a $500,000 loss: The total offense level would be 21 corresponding to a sentencing range of 37-46 months and With a $2,000,000 loss The total offense level would be 25 corresponding to a sentencing range of 57-71 months.

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