"Wiring" points from the US looks like a nightmare
. Where's that apology letter which they refused to pay up on at the promo's conclusion?
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http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41931.pdf[/FONT]
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[FONT="]The element may also be satisfied by mailings or communications designed to lull the victim into a [/FONT]
[FONT="]false sense of security, postpone inquiries or complaints, or make the transaction less suspect. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Mail and Wire Fraud: An Abridged Overview of Federal Criminal Law [/FONT]
[FONT="]Congressional Research Service [/FONT]
[FONT="]2 [/FONT]
[FONT="]Scheme to Defraud[/FONT]
[FONT="]: The mail and wire fraud statutes both prohibit, in pertinent part, any scheme [/FONT]
[FONT="]or artifice to defraud, or to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, [/FONT]
[FONT="]representations, or promises, or deprive another of the right to honest services by such means. [/FONT]
[FONT="]From the beginning, Congress intended to reach a wide range of schemes to defraud, and has [/FONT]
[FONT="]expanded the concept whenever doubts arose. It added the second prong – obtaining money or [/FONT]
[FONT="]property by false pretenses, representations, or promises – after defendants had suggested that the [/FONT]
[FONT="]term “scheme to defraud” covered false pretenses concerning present conditions but not [/FONT]
[FONT="]representations or promises of future conditions. More recently, it added Section 1346 to make it [/FONT]
[FONT="]clear the term “scheme to defraud” encompassed schemes to defraud another of the right to [/FONT]
[FONT="]honest services. Even before that adornment, the words were understood to refer to wronging one [/FONT]
[FONT="]in his property rights by dishonest methods or schemes, and usually signify the deprivation of [/FONT]
[FONT="]something of value by trick, deceit, chicane or overreaching[/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]RICO has one of the first contemporary forfeiture provisions covering property and interests acquired [/FONT]
[FONT="]through RICO violations. As noted earlier, any RICO predicate offense is by virtue of that fact a [/FONT]
[FONT="]money laundering predicate. Victims enjoy a cause of action for treble damages when injured in [/FONT]
[FONT="]their business or property by reason of a RICO violation. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]To establish the laundering or concealment offense, the government must establish that: (1) the [/FONT]
[FONT="]defendant conducted, or attempted to conduct a financial transaction which in any way or degree [/FONT]
[FONT="]affected interstate commerce or foreign commerce; (2) the financial transaction involved proceeds [/FONT]
[FONT="]of illegal activity; (3) the defendant knew the property represented proceeds of some form of [/FONT]
[FONT="]unlawful activity; and (4) the defendant conducted or attempted to conduct the financial [/FONT]
[FONT="]transaction knowing the transaction was designed in whole or in part to conceal or disguise the [/FONT]
[FONT="]nature, the location, the source, the ownership or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful [/FONT]
[FONT="]activity. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Foreign Corrupt Practices[/FONT]
[FONT="]: The bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are three: [/FONT]
[FONT="]15 U.S.C. 78dd-1(trade practices by issuers), 78dd-2 (trade practices by domestic concerns), [/FONT]
[FONT="]78dd-3 (trade practices by others within the United States). Other than class of potential [/FONT]
[FONT="]defendants, the elements of the three are comparable. They make it a crime to: (1) willfully; (2) [/FONT]
[FONT="]make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce; (3) corruptly; (4) [/FONT]
[FONT="]in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment of any [/FONT]
[FONT="]money, or offer, gift, promise to give, or authorization of the giving of anything of value to; (5) [/FONT]
[FONT="]any foreign official; (6) for purposes of either influencing any act or decision of such foreign [/FONT]
[FONT="]official in his official capacity or inducing such foreign official to do or omit to do any act in [/FONT]
[FONT="]violation of the lawful duty of such official or securing any improper advantage; (7) in order to [/FONT]
[FONT="]assist such corporation in obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any [/FONT]
[FONT="]person. [/FONT]
[FONT="]None of the three proscriptions apply to payments to expedite or to secure the performance of a [/FONT]
[FONT="]routine governmental action, and each affords defendants an affirmative defense for payments [/FONT]
[FONT="]that are lawful under the applicable foreign law or regulation. Violations are punishable by [/FONT]
[FONT="]imprisonment for not more than 5 years and by a fine of not more than $100,000 (not more than [/FONT]
[FONT="]$2 million for organizations). Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations are not RICO predicate [/FONT]
[FONT="]offenses, but they are money laundering predicates. The proceeds of a violation are subject to [/FONT]
[FONT="]forfeiture under either civil or criminal procedure. [/FONT]
[FONT="] [/FONT]
[FONT="]Mail and Wire Fraud: An Abridged Overview of Federal Criminal Law [/FONT]
[FONT="]Congressional Research Service [/FONT]
[FONT="]10 [/FONT]
[FONT="]Author Contact Information [/FONT]
[FONT="]Charles Doyle [/FONT]
[FONT="]Senior Specialist in American Public Law [/FONT]
[FONT="]
[email protected], 7-6968 [/FONT]