AND · 18usc1343:scheme
A fraudulent plan, including a deliberately false promise, is required; an unsuccessful scheme can qualify. Do not convert a mere breach of contract into fraudulent intent.
Exact element source
scheme or artifice to defraudSource:
docroot/ir/usc/title18.jsonl#title18_sec1343; Unicode character offsets [94:123] (end exclusive); SHA-256 944569d18f6d3624ae87dde151ee823f6cf078faa69c6d3e59fb832bc1aaa933.Routes and case patterns
| Route | Definition | Merits instance blocks | Distinct merits cases | Examples (up to 3 cases per count group) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unclassified route provisional; 4 observed cases | no definition yet | 0 Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 4 | 0 | Used only in non-merits blocks (4). Excluded context examples:United States v. Jefferson — 562 F. Supp. 2d 719 (2008) · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia · 2008 — not reached · basis not recorded (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · not counted United States v. Evans — 844 F.2d 36 (1988) · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1988 — not reached · basis not recorded (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · not counted United States v. Brumley — 59 F.3d 517 (1995) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1995 — not reached · basis not recorded (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · not counted |
| _pleading accepted; provisional (1 case) | The element fails or survives purely on generic pleading sufficiency (conclusory allegations, group pleading, Rule 9(b) particularity), without the court reaching any substantive sub-question. | 1 Satisfied 1; not satisfied 0; excluded context 0 | 1 | Fleetwood Servs., LLC v. Complete Bus. Solutions Grp., Inc. — 374 F. Supp. 3d 361 (2019) · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania · 2019 — satisfied · pleaded (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · counted |
| _whole accepted; 3 observed cases | The element is decided as a whole: the reasoning turns on no narrower doctrinal sub-question that distinguishes it from any other application of this element. | 1 Satisfied 1; not satisfied 0; excluded context 2 | 1 | United States v. Feldman — 931 F.3d 1245 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · counted New England Data Services, Inc. v. Becher — 829 F.2d 286 (1987) · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1987 — satisfied · pleaded (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · background/procedural · not counted United States v. Baker — 923 F.3d 390 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (18usc1343: author: Fable · historical QA: FIX (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2.md) · changed after review; current content not independently reviewed) · applied/lower-court · not counted |
| concealment-or-omission provisional; provisional (1 case) | Whether concealment or non-disclosure, without an affirmative false statement, is a scheme to defraud. | 1 Satisfied 1; not satisfied 0; excluded context 1 | 1 | Pasquantino v. United States — 544 U.S. 349 (2005) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2005 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · counted Pasquantino v. United States — 544 U.S. 349 (2005) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2005 — not · law (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/dissent · not counted |
| false-promise provisional; 0 observed cases | A promise made as part of a fraudulent plan; later nonperformance alone does not establish fraud. | 0 Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 0 | 0 | Never used: no annotation uses in this snapshot |
| fraudulent-inducement provisional; 5 observed cases | Whether false representations made to induce a transaction constitute a scheme to defraud. | 5 Satisfied 5; not satisfied 0; excluded context 0 | 5 | United States v. Hasson — 333 F.3d 1264 (2003) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2003 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · counted United States v. Corrigan — 912 F.3d 422 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · counted United States v. Boliaux — 915 F.3d 493 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · counted |
| inchoate provisional; provisional (1 case) | Whether a scheme that could not succeed is still a scheme to defraud. | 1 Satisfied 1; not satisfied 0; excluded context 0 | 1 | United States v. Sancho — 957 F. Supp. 39 (1997) · United States District Court for the Southern District of New York · 1997 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) · applied/merits · counted |
How courts decided this element
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Pattern | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States v. Jefferson — 562 F. Supp. 2d 719 (2008) · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia · 2008 — not reached (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / meritsThe only scheme alleged is the § 1346 honest-services scheme recorded above; no property-fraud scheme is charged in these counts. | Unspecified route | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
| Fleetwood Servs., LLC v. Complete Bus. Solutions Grp., Inc. — 374 F. Supp. 3d 361 (2019) · United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania · 2019 — satisfied · pleaded (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md); 18usc1962: author: Flash1 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: pleaded; party: Complete Business Solutions Group, Inc. (CBSG) and Prime Time Funding, LLC (PTF); count: civil RICO (Count IV), wire fraud as the predicate racketeering activity; subject: party=Complete Business Solutions Group, Inc. (CBSG) and Prime Time Funding, LLC (PTF); count=civil RICO (Count IV), wire fraud as the predicate racketeering activity The only challenge to the predicate was Rule 9(b) particularity; the court held the scheme (luring borrowers into loans falsely presented as enforceable) pleaded with enough particularity. No substantive sub-question of "scheme" was decided, hence route _pleading. | lender misrepresents enforceability of a usurious merchant-cash-advance "factoring" agreement; Rule 9(b) who-to-whom-and-what satisfied | "Mail or wire fraud consists of (1) a scheme to defraud, (2) use of the mail or interstate wires to further that scheme, and (3) fraudulent intent."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [26738:26886] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db.Nevertheless, a plaintiff "must allege who made a misrepresentation to whom and the general content of the misrepresentation."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [28955:29081] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db.At its core, the Amended Complaint alleges the Defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud by intentionally misrepresenting the enforceability of the Factoring Agreement, when, in fact, the Factoring Agreement was a usurious, and thus unenforceable, loan.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [27056:27309] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db.As evidence, Plaintiffs allege the existence of (but have not actually filed with the Court) two email exchanges between Plaintiffs, PTF, and CBSG, in January 2017, in which Defendants fraudulently (1) claimed the Agreement would help move Fleetwood Services away from cash advances and save money, and (2) the Agreement was legally enforceable.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [27310:27655] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db.Defendants' promises, according to the Amended Complaint, were lies manufactured to conceal the true purpose behind CBSG and PTF's offer, which was to "worsen [ ] Fleetwood Services's cash flow and thereby increase its dependence on further loans exclusively from [ ] CBSG."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [2500:2774] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db.The Court is satisfied Plaintiffs have alleged "who made a misrepresentation to whom and the general content of that misrepresentation," Lum , 361 F.3d at 224, and that the Amended Complaint suffices to put Defendants on the notice of the "precise misconduct with which they are charged," Seville , 742 F.2d at 791.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_374.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/374/0361-01; Unicode character offsets [30108:30423] (end exclusive); SHA-256 c041cf6cf58e2814a8ec0b0d635cfd00b5b7a557d2adb7ffa3eb21670f1c22db. |
| United States v. Sancho — 957 F. Supp. 39 (1997) · United States District Court for the Southern District of New York · 1997 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; theory: scheme incapable of success (target of the bribe was a government agent); subject: theory=scheme incapable of success (target of the bribe was a government agent) Impossibility is no defense: a scheme is judged by what the schemer devised and intended, not by whether it could have harmed the victim. The cuts-against line is the court's own statement of the defendant's premise, which it then holds legally irrelevant. | inchoate-scheme/factually-impossible-sting | Here, the evidence produced at trial directly supported the government’s allegation that defendant attempted to defraud Tish-man by bribing someone defendant thought was a consultant to Tishman.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_957.jsonl#/f-supp/957/0039-01; Unicode character offsets [9702:9896] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d4d9c76f73ba5d2026b0b0f29447c423328d268df1178783fd6dcec8db2fbe64.If the intended victim has no actual right to the employee’s honest services, the defendant’s scheme cannot be said to actually harm the victim by depriving the victim of those honest services.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_957.jsonl#/f-supp/957/0039-01; Unicode character offsets [8728:8921] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d4d9c76f73ba5d2026b0b0f29447c423328d268df1178783fd6dcec8db2fbe64.Yet, as noted in Part II of this Opinion, § 1343 does not require a defendant to have actually defrauded the intended victim, or that a defendant’s scheme was capable of doing so.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_957.jsonl#/f-supp/957/0039-01; Unicode character offsets [8922:9101] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d4d9c76f73ba5d2026b0b0f29447c423328d268df1178783fd6dcec8db2fbe64.The essence of the wire fraud act is the defendant’s intent to defraud, and the scheme he perpetrates in furtherance of that intent, and not the actual corruption of an employee.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_957.jsonl#/f-supp/957/0039-01; Unicode character offsets [9102:9280] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d4d9c76f73ba5d2026b0b0f29447c423328d268df1178783fd6dcec8db2fbe64. |
| New England Data Services, Inc. v. Becher — 829 F.2d 286 (1987) · United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1987 — satisfied · pleaded (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Excluded from merits counts background / procedural basis: pleaded The adequacy of the scheme allegations is a factor in the court's discovery-before-dismissal test, not a merits ruling; a footnote says the comment does not reflect on the strength of the merits. No misrepresentation to the plaintiff is identified: the alleged fraud is a transfer of assets out of a judgment creditor's reach. | fraudulent-transfer/sham-stock-sale-and-security-interest-to-defeat-judgment-creditor | Shortly after entry of judgment in favor of plaintiff, Becher, Valenti and Schechter, pursuant to an alleged conspiracy to defraud creditors, sold all the stock of Ginsu and IBI to buyers, including defendants Schecter and Monarch Investments, an entity created by Schecter.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_829.jsonl#/f2d/829/0286-01; Unicode character offsets [1144:1418] (end exclusive); SHA-256 86b85ab2b6819f0efe8825cd505d39109400d94c02df852cb996b39d4b5bdc73.The transfer of the security interest was made without fair consideration to the corporations, thereby rendering the corporations insolvent.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_829.jsonl#/f2d/829/0286-01; Unicode character offsets [1569:1709] (end exclusive); SHA-256 86b85ab2b6819f0efe8825cd505d39109400d94c02df852cb996b39d4b5bdc73.After plaintiff commenced efforts to collect its judgment against Ginsu and IBI, defendants Becher and Valenti declared a default under the stock sale agreement, and exercising their rights as holders of a security interest, took possession of Ginsu’s and IBI’s assets.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_829.jsonl#/f2d/829/0286-01; Unicode character offsets [1889:2158] (end exclusive); SHA-256 86b85ab2b6819f0efe8825cd505d39109400d94c02df852cb996b39d4b5bdc73.The plaintiff clearly set out a general scheme, which very plausibly was meant to defraud the plaintiff, and also probably involved interstate commerce.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f2d_829.jsonl#/f2d/829/0286-01; Unicode character offsets [13599:13751] (end exclusive); SHA-256 86b85ab2b6819f0efe8825cd505d39109400d94c02df852cb996b39d4b5bdc73. |
| United States v. Evans — 844 F.2d 36 (1988) · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1988 — not reached (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / meritsThe deception itself (false end-user certificates and false statements to the State and Defense Departments about the arms' destination) is alleged and not questioned; the counts fail only for want of a property interest of the deceived party. | Unspecified route | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
| United States v. Hasson — 333 F.3d 1264 (2003) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2003 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; theory: misrepresentations reasonably calculated to deceive a person of ordinary prudence (not mere market-value puffery); subject: theory=misrepresentations reasonably calculated to deceive a person of ordinary prudence (not mere market-value puffery) Defendant argued he had only overstated market value, which a prudent buyer could check. Rejected: the lies went to physical characteristics a lay buyer cannot verify, and sham "independent" appraisals and staged meetings discouraged checking. | misdescribed-goods-backed-by-sham-independent-verification | There was also ample testimony regarding the special training and equipment required to evaluate the physical qualities of fíne gems and jewelry from which the jury could reasonably conclude that the misrepresentations were not easily verifiable by the person of ordinary prudence.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [10221:10502] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859.Furthermore, Hasson prepared false appraisals and arranged for false appraisals prepared by co-conspirator posing as an independent appraiser, creating the impression that his representations were independently verified and making it unlikely that a person of ordinary prudence would invest the time and expense to obtain second or third evaluations of the items purchased.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [10503:10876] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859.The con included paying co-conspirators to play the roles of the Sultan’s nephew and the nephew’s entourage at a meeting between Johnson and the “nephew” held on Hasson’s private jet, disguised as the nephew’s jet, in late 1995, and at a similar meeting held in a limousine at the Palm Beach airport in late 1996.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [16023:16336] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859.That is, not all misrepresentations or omissions constitute a scheme, to defraud; the misrepresentation or omission must be material and it must be one on which a person of ordinary prudence would rely.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [8193:8395] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859.Puffery, for example, is not part of a scheme to defraud because a person of ordinary prudence would not rely on it; nor would a person of ordinary prudence engaged in an arm’s-length purchase rely on the seller’s representations regarding the market value of the property when the market value can be, and should be, easily verified by consulting other sources.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [8657:9019] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859.Has-son’s conduct simply cannot be analogized to the mere misrepresentation of accessible market values which, as we held in Brown, could not be reasonably calculated to induce purchase by a person of ordinary prudence.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_333.jsonl#/f3d/333/1264-01; Unicode character offsets [9677:9896] (end exclusive); SHA-256 0b48e223f26a65a380a150f77101da14ca89689355c39f63faa2a3def0f80859. |
| United States v. Brumley — 59 F.3d 517 (1995) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 1995 — not reached (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / meritsLoans from a lawyer practising before the defendant's agency, and favours in return, are recited but the court never decides whether they were a scheme to defraud. | Unspecified route | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
| United States v. Corrigan — 912 F.3d 422 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; party: William D. Corrigan; count: four counts of wire fraud (Count I Neilitz; Counts II-IV Rawah Partners); subject: party=William D. Corrigan; count=four counts of wire fraud (Count I Neilitz; Counts II-IV Rawah Partners) Sufficiency of the bench-trial finding of a scheme upheld: investments were solicited by false statements of present fact (an insurance policy already cancelled, a non-existent deadline) and the money diverted to personal use. | CEO solicits further stock purchases by falsely claiming funds are needed for employee health-insurance premiums, has them wired to his personal account and spends them personally | By March 2009, United Healthcare had terminated ECS's policy for non-payment and there were no other looming deadlines that required a cash infusion.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_912.jsonl#/f3d/912/0422-01; Unicode character offsets [16222:16371] (end exclusive); SHA-256 aadf9132ad891c365a7968b690940ec3ce0070f4acc683f6204c0ef932f8fc4a.Instead the funds were spent by Corrigan personally to, inter alia , travel and support his girlfriend.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_912.jsonl#/f3d/912/0422-01; Unicode character offsets [16445:16548] (end exclusive); SHA-256 aadf9132ad891c365a7968b690940ec3ce0070f4acc683f6204c0ef932f8fc4a.Documents showed Corrigan misled investors as to where the funds would be sent, the Stock Subscription Agreements indicated that the funds would be sent to ECS, but Corrigan provided his personal account number instead.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_912.jsonl#/f3d/912/0422-01; Unicode character offsets [16602:16821] (end exclusive); SHA-256 aadf9132ad891c365a7968b690940ec3ce0070f4acc683f6204c0ef932f8fc4a.In sum, there was ample evidence to support the district judge's conclusion that Corrigan had perpetrated a scheme to defraud investors.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_912.jsonl#/f3d/912/0422-01; Unicode character offsets [17007:17143] (end exclusive); SHA-256 aadf9132ad891c365a7968b690940ec3ce0070f4acc683f6204c0ef932f8fc4a. |
| United States v. Boliaux — 915 F.3d 493 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; party: Edward Boliaux; count: four counts of wire fraud (used-car dealership floorplan-financing scheme); subject: party=Edward Boliaux; count=four counts of wire fraud (used-car dealership floorplan-financing scheme) The held sentence is the district court's Rule 29 conclusion, adopted by the panel without further discussion. | duplicate car titles and forged lien releases used to obtain multiple floorplan loans against the same vehicles; defence that it was only breach of contract rejected | It suffices to note that Boliaux lied to obtain duplicate titles for cars that he knew were financed by one lender, and used the duplicate titles to obtain additional financing from a second lender-thereby compromising the security interests of both lenders.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_915.jsonl#/f3d/915/0493-01; Unicode character offsets [2684:2942] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a2d8cc2afe88a91fa856e6f1d0d7fefd9cfc2de1338b80b4342b6d9644d0e078.Later, he forged lien releases purportedly from GMAC, and with those releases, obtained car titles that he used to secure more financing-thereby cheating those lenders by concealing GMAC's interests.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_915.jsonl#/f3d/915/0493-01; Unicode character offsets [2943:3142] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a2d8cc2afe88a91fa856e6f1d0d7fefd9cfc2de1338b80b4342b6d9644d0e078.Obtaining money through a scheme intended to cheat others is a crime whether or not it is also sloppy business or breach of contract.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_915.jsonl#/f3d/915/0493-01; Unicode character offsets [2550:2683] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a2d8cc2afe88a91fa856e6f1d0d7fefd9cfc2de1338b80b4342b6d9644d0e078.the evidence demonstrated that Boliaux obtained financing from lenders through materially false representations, and he perpetuated his scheme through the concealment of material facts.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_915.jsonl#/f3d/915/0493-01; Unicode character offsets [2200:2385] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a2d8cc2afe88a91fa856e6f1d0d7fefd9cfc2de1338b80b4342b6d9644d0e078. |
| United States v. Baker — 923 F.3d 390 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · conceded (18usc1343: author: Fable · historical QA: FIX (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2.md) · changed after review; current content not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Excluded from merits counts applied / lower-court basis: conceded Existence of the fraud was conceded at trial and is not an appellate issue; only the defendant's knowledge of it was disputed. | investor-deception/channel-stuffing-to-inflate-reported-revenue | Baker, along with the company's other senior executives, engaged in a "channel-stuffing" scheme that involved sending excess products to a distributor that did not need those products.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_923.jsonl#/f3d/923/0390-01; Unicode character offsets [325:509] (end exclusive); SHA-256 56c8a4a8edbb926a6e88073c3ca4cd1e36966785d95d343de83140e602ffb5f5.ArthroCare reported those shipments as legitimate sales, which inflated the company's revenue numbers in its financial reports.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_923.jsonl#/f3d/923/0390-01; Unicode character offsets [510:637] (end exclusive); SHA-256 56c8a4a8edbb926a6e88073c3ca4cd1e36966785d95d343de83140e602ffb5f5.At trial, Baker's counsel conceded that a fraud had occurred at ArthroCare, but the defense was that Gluk, Raffle, and Applegate had orchestrated it without Baker's knowledge.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_923.jsonl#/f3d/923/0390-01; Unicode character offsets [8197:8372] (end exclusive); SHA-256 56c8a4a8edbb926a6e88073c3ca4cd1e36966785d95d343de83140e602ffb5f5. |
| United States v. Feldman — 931 F.3d 1245 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; party: Isaac Feldman; count: conspiracy to commit wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349; object § 1343), Miami Beach "B-girl" nightclubs, retrial; subject: party=Isaac Feldman; count=conspiracy to commit wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1349; object § 1343), Miami Beach "B-girl" nightclubs, retrial Defendant argued the tactics within his agreement (B-girls luring patrons, deflecting price questions) were not fraud under Takhalov; the court did not sort the tactics, holding that charging for unordered drinks is fraud "under any interpretation of the wire-fraud statute". | nightclub charges patrons' credit cards for drinks not ordered and runs cards to the limit; lies about number and kind of drinks | Simchuk described a particular ruse in which bartenders would tell patrons that they were receiving two bottles of champagne for the price of one but charge them for both after they accepted the "free" bottle, and although he was describing his clubs in Latvia when he testified about this trick, he testified immediately afterward that he brought "exactly the same system" to Miami.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_931.jsonl#/f3d/931/1245-01; Unicode character offsets [29680:30063] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9164187ee863c8b38f722756c8cb94047e4a0851d6f581235a3c33fbbbc39d72.Simchuk also testified that the "bartender's job was [to] open up the tab and clean up the credit card." He used the phrase "clean up the credit card" more than once, and, when the government asked him what it meant, he replied, "That's what I mean, run the credit card until it stopped. ... Just charge it."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_931.jsonl#/f3d/931/1245-01; Unicode character offsets [30064:30372] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9164187ee863c8b38f722756c8cb94047e4a0851d6f581235a3c33fbbbc39d72.In Simchuk's words, once a customer ordered even a single drink, "[b]artender went to bar, open up the tab, let the guy sign, that's it, credit card gone."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_931.jsonl#/f3d/931/1245-01; Unicode character offsets [30672:30827] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9164187ee863c8b38f722756c8cb94047e4a0851d6f581235a3c33fbbbc39d72.Based on Simchuk's testimony, the jury rationally could have found that Feldman knowingly participated in a scheme to charge customers for drinks they did not order, to lie to customers about the number and kind of drinks they were being charged for, and to lie to credit-card companies about the drinks patrons had ordered.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_931.jsonl#/f3d/931/1245-01; Unicode character offsets [29068:29392] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9164187ee863c8b38f722756c8cb94047e4a0851d6f581235a3c33fbbbc39d72. |
| United States v. Lebedev — 932 F.3d 40 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 2019 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved; party: Yuri Lebedev; count: wire fraud (Coin.mx Bitcoin exchange disguised as "Collectables Club"); subject: party=Yuri Lebedev; count=wire fraud (Coin.mx Bitcoin exchange disguised as "Collectables Club") The deception itself was not disputed on appeal (the argument was absence of harm); the court recites the evidence of it in upholding sufficiency. | Bitcoin exchange transactions disguised through a front "collectors' club" so banks and processors would approve them | Coin.mx opened bank accounts in the name of "the Collectables Club," which falsely purported to be a private members' association dedicated to collecting and exchanging memorabilia.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_932.jsonl#/f3d/932/0040-01; Unicode character offsets [1527:1708] (end exclusive); SHA-256 5d88a701fc7d5ffe2cbab65485f0ab756dcdbf5ba8ced047625bdd408703b4aa.One of Lebedev's responsibilities was to set up various Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses to make it appear to banks and payment processors that Coin.mx's transactions were legitimate Collectables Club transactions.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_932.jsonl#/f3d/932/0040-01; Unicode character offsets [2028:2244] (end exclusive); SHA-256 5d88a701fc7d5ffe2cbab65485f0ab756dcdbf5ba8ced047625bdd408703b4aa.The evidence also showed that Lebedev's role in Coin.mx's scheme was to disguise Coin.mx's Bitcoin transactions through front entities such as the Collectables Club, so the institutions processing those transactions would be more likely to process and approve them.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_932.jsonl#/f3d/932/0040-01; Unicode character offsets [10168:10433] (end exclusive); SHA-256 5d88a701fc7d5ffe2cbab65485f0ab756dcdbf5ba8ced047625bdd408703b4aa.Accordingly, sufficient evidence supported Lebedev's convictions for wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_932.jsonl#/f3d/932/0040-01; Unicode character offsets [12412:12550] (end exclusive); SHA-256 5d88a701fc7d5ffe2cbab65485f0ab756dcdbf5ba8ced047625bdd408703b4aa. |
| Pasquantino v. United States — 544 U.S. 349 (2005) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2005 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved Hiding goods and not declaring them is treated as an implied representation to customs that there was nothing to declare. The common-law revenue rule does not carve tax-evasion schemes against foreign sovereigns out of "scheme to defraud" (Part III), and the prosecution is a domestic, not extraterritorial, application (Part IV). | concealment-as-misrepresentation/undeclared-goods-smuggled-past-customs | They employed Hilts and others to drive the liquor over the Canadian border, without paying the required excise taxes.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [964:1082] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693.The drivers avoided paying taxes by hiding the liquor in their vehicles and failing to declare the goods to Canadian customs officials.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [1089:1224] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693.The evidence showed that petitioners routinely concealed imported liquor from Canadian officials and failed to declare those goods on customs forms.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [8852:9000] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693.Their offense was complete the moment they executed the scheme inside the United States; “[t]he wire fraud statute punishes the scheme, not its success.”Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [29931:30084] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693.This, then, was a scheme “designed to defraud by representations,” Durland v. United States, 161 U. S. 306, 313 (1896), and therefore a “scheme or artifice to defraud” Canada of taxes due on the smuggled goods.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [9132:9342] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693. |
| Pasquantino v. United States — 544 U.S. 349 (2005) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2005 — not · law (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | not Excluded from merits counts applied / dissent basis: law; opinion: Ginsburg, J., dissenting (joined by Breyer; Scalia and Souter in part); subject: opinion=Ginsburg, J., dissenting (joined by Breyer; Scalia and Souter in part) The dissent would hold a scheme whose only wrong is evasion of foreign customs and tax law outside 1343 (presumption against extraterritoriality, revenue rule, the specific antismuggling statute 18 U.S.C. 546, rule of lenity). The dissent is truncated by the 60000-char cap and was only skimmed. | concealment-as-misrepresentation/undeclared-goods-smuggled-past-customs | The presumption against extraterritoriality, which guides courts in the absence of congressional direction, provides ample cause to conclude that § 1343 does not extend to the instant scheme.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_544.jsonl#/us/544/0349-01; Unicode character offsets [51565:51756] (end exclusive); SHA-256 320769dc88fb8a8fa39aac524a6fd97eed9d98adf063295b8996aa906e8ac693. |
| Yeager v. United States — 557 U.S. 110 (2009) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2009 — not reached (18usc1343: author: Fable · not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | not_reached Excluded from merits counts background / procedural count: counts 3-6 (wire fraud; four Enron Broadband press releases in 2000); subject: count=counts 3-6 (wire fraud; four Enron Broadband press releases in 2000) The wire fraud counts matter only as acquittals whose preclusive effect on the hung insider-trading counts is in issue. The Court holds that hung counts play no part in the Ashe issue-preclusion analysis and remands; it does not decide what the acquittals necessarily determined (lack of insider information, per CA5, or non-participation in the scheme to defraud, per the district court), and says nothing about any element of 1343. | Unspecified route | Counts 3 through 6 alleged that petitioner and others committed four acts of wire fraud when they issued four EBS-related press releases in 2000.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_557.jsonl#/us/557/0110-01; Unicode character offsets [3231:3376] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d49e4e2921f15336497bab82957f214236c36a42fb3495b042401d9f3bb6b887.The jury acquitted petitioner on the fraud counts but failed to reach a verdict on the insider trading counts.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_557.jsonl#/us/557/0110-01; Unicode character offsets [4661:4771] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d49e4e2921f15336497bab82957f214236c36a42fb3495b042401d9f3bb6b887. |
| Kousisis v. United States — 605 U.S. 114 (2025) · Supreme Court of the United States · 2025 — satisfied · proved (18usc1343: author: Fable · historical QA: FIX (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2.md) · changed after review; current content not independently reviewed) | Scheme or artifice to defraud | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: proved A false promise in the bid plus later false certifications of performance; giving equal value in return does not take the plan outside "scheme to defraud / to obtain money by false pretenses". | false-subcontractor-compliance-promise-to-win-public-contract | Accordingly, as part of the bidding process, Kousisis represented that Alpha would acquire ap- proximately $6.4 million in painting supplies from Markias, Inc., a prequalifed disadvantaged business.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [13848:14046] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a.In short, Markias was no more than a paper pusher, funneling checks and invoices to and from Alpha's actual suppliers.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [14672:14790] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a.As the proj- ects progressed, he falsely reported qualifying payments to Markias.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [15318:15399] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a.Rather, the theory criminalizes a particular species of fraud: intention- ally lying to induce a victim into a transaction that will cost her money or property.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [48756:48916] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a.By using Markias as a pass-through entity, petitioners “devised” a “scheme” to ob- tain contracts through feigned compliance with PennDOT's disadvantaged-business requirement.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [22470:22645] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a.A conviction premised on a fraudulent inducement thus com- ports with § 1343.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/clus_605.jsonl#/us/605/114; Unicode character offsets [24161:24238] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3fafd32698ec39e27fdd3e9010c70c21801f2f3a822702b3632e487bec94666a. |
Court interpretations
interpretation
The essential elements of mail and wire fraud are (1) a scheme to defraud, (2) money or property as the object of the scheme, and (3) use of the mails or wires to further the scheme.
United States v. Runner — 143 F.4th 146 (2025) · United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 2025 (18usc1343: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
The essential elements of mail and wire fraud are (1) a scheme to defraud, (2) money or property as the object of the scheme, and (3) use of the mails or wires to further the scheme.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/f4th_143.jsonl#/f4th/143/146; Unicode character offsets [14885:15067] (end exclusive); SHA-256 21fd65e23cb26bfd8dd04bb2c3c024b1d035709f3309d0b90f65bca9c7025acc.A fraudulent plan, including a deliberately false promise, is required; an unsuccessful scheme can qualify. Do not convert a mere breach of contract into fraudulent intent.
interpretation
By prohibiting the “scheme to defraud,” rather than the completed fraud, the elements of reliance and damage would clearly be inconsistent with the statutes Congress enacted.
Neder v. United States — 527 U.S. 1 (1999) · Supreme Court of the United States · 1999 (18usc1343: author: unavailable · not independently reviewed)
By prohibiting the “scheme to defraud,” rather than the completed fraud, the elements of reliance and damage would clearly be inconsistent with the statutes Congress enacted.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/us_527.jsonl#/us/527/0001-01; Unicode character offsets [37779:37953] (end exclusive); SHA-256 e0a4af797b1293eb68136f29db1ed43b57bd1627cee70ab67e5a05c81288e673.A fraudulent plan, including a deliberately false promise, is required; an unsuccessful scheme can qualify. Do not convert a mere breach of contract into fraudulent intent.
not-required
Actual victim reliance or completed economic damage (Neder); materiality and the statutory communication remain required.
No source quotation recorded.