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How can you defend against fraud charges?

On Behalf of | Apr 25, 2022 | Federal Crimes

A fraud conviction could be the end of your career. Your employer would likely sack you and other employers would stay well away from you in the future, considering you untrustworthy.

On top of that, you could end up being unable to work for months or years due to a prison sentence.

If someone accuses you of fraud, here are the four main things to consider when contesting their accusation:

  • Did someone suffer? It needs to be more than their pride that is hurt. They need to show they lost money. Either directly in a bad investment or perhaps in a future loss of business because clients lose faith in them.
  • Did they suffer because they relied on a fact you gave them? If you provide a client with five reports, all offering a different view on a topic, they cannot hold you responsible if they chose to go with a particular one and it was wrong. If you only gave them information that pointed them in one specific direction, they might be able to.
  • Was that information wrong? It is not always possible to say whether the information is correct at the time. Sometimes that can only be determined with hindsight.
  • Did you know it was wrong before you gave it to them? There needs to be intent to deceive on your part. If you gave incorrect information by mistake, it is not a fraud.

Being accused of fraud does not always result in a conviction. Yet if you do not get adequate help to understand your defense options, you increase the chance it does.

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