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Fraud is a very broad definition that we can generally see being prosecuted under the statute of wire fraud. Why wire fraud? Because the government has to prove that when there is the taking of money, which is the fraud, it occurred through state lines. And that’s what makes it a federal crime. So when you wire money from your bank to another bank, that makes it a federal crime. When you send money in any way, because the banks use the wires, it becomes wire fraud. The prosecutor needs to show that you knowingly and intentionally defrauded somebody else of the assets, that you didn’t have permission to take the assets, that the victim is in fact a victim and not somebody who had knowledge and now simply complains about you that you committed the crime.
Chicago, IL criminal defense attorney Gal Pissetzky talks about what the prosecution must prove in a fraud case. In the realm of fraud, the legal definition often falls under the broad category of wire fraud, a statute commonly employed in prosecutions. Wire fraud is invoked because the government is required to establish that the fraudulent act, involving the misappropriation of funds, traversed state lines, thereby elevating it to a federal offense. Transactions involving the wiring of money, such as transfers between banks, automatically fall under the purview of wire fraud, rendering them subject to federal jurisdiction.