Source: law/18usc1343.law
# 18 U.S.C. § 1343 — Wave 2 law catalogue # Statutory text is pinned to the read-only IR record; doctrinal elements are annotations. law 18usc1343 cite 18 U.S.C. § 1343 title Wire fraud url https://www.neochart.com/catalog/federal/title_18/section_1343/title18_sec1343_4b76eb3ae6f7/1343_fraud_by_wire_radio_or_television_whoever_having_devise_0001/index.html address catalog/federal/title_18/section_1343/title18_sec1343_4b76eb3ae6f7/1343_fraud_by_wire_radio_or_television_whoever_having_devise_0001/index.html source ir/usc/title18.jsonl#title18_sec1343 sha1=1c98e294287a38d60933f990cee3035f6dbfca5e chars=1453 claim property-fraud : scheme & property & materiality & intent & wire & furtherance & interstate gloss Core property-fraud offense; all elements require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Section 1346 honest-services fraud is a separate cross-referenced theory, not a way to label every intangible interest property. Penalty enhancements and ancillary liability are outside this core catalogue. element scheme : and name Scheme or artifice to defraud text @94..123 | scheme or artifice to defraud rule /f4th/143/146 @14885..15067 | 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. rule /us/527/0001-01 @37779..37953 | 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. gloss 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. variant false-promise | A promise made as part of a fraudulent plan; later nonperformance alone does not establish fraud. variant fraudulent-inducement | Material deception induces a transaction transferring the victim's money or property; equivalent value in return is not dispositive. element property : and name Traditional money or property as an object text @142..159 | money or property rule /us/605/114 @20152..20275 | Obtaining the victim's money or property must have been the “aim,” not an “incidental byproduct,” of the defendant's fraud. rule /us/605/114 @23857..23990 | In short, the wire fraud statute is agnostic about economic loss. The statute does not so much as mention loss, let alone require it. gloss Judicial construction of the statutory property/object requirement: the property target must be an object of the scheme, not merely an incidental expense of exercising regulatory power. Traditional intangible property can qualify; intangible regulatory interests and a free-standing right to control economic decisions cannot. Kousisis preserves Ciminelli and Kelly while rejecting a net-economic-loss requirement. not-required Intent to cause net pecuniary loss where material deception targets a transfer of traditional property. element materiality : and name Material deception text @172..231 | false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises rule /us/527/0001-01 @38141..38269 | Accordingly, we hold that materiality of falsehood is an element of the federal mail fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud statutes. rule /us/605/114 @41936..42071 | We need not settle the debate here, however, because Alpha and Kousisis have not contested that their misrepresentations were material. gloss Judge-made incorporation of common-law fraud, not an express word in this statute. Kousisis leaves unresolved the parties' competing formulations of the materiality standard; it does not adopt an essence-of-the-bargain test as an additional universal element. element intent : and name Knowing participation with intent to defraud text @52..89 | having devised or intending to devise rule /f4th/143/146 @28582..28849 | The Government introduced sufficient evidence to prove that DMC—led by Runner— advertised goods and services it never planned to deliver, and otherwise intentionally lied to trick customers into paying money. No more was needed for the jury to find fraudulent intent. rule /f3d/917/0668-01 @11661..11894 | Even if Hagen broke a promise to refund $12,000 for the early termination, breach of contract is not fraud, and the cashing of Penner's check in April was not in furtherance of any dispute that arose at the end of the grazing season. gloss Judicial construction of the scheme language requires fraudulent intent, distinct from negligence or contract breach. A deliberate material deception aimed at obtaining the victim's property suffices without intent to leave the victim economically worse off. Earlier intent-to-harm formulations must be read subject to Kousisis. element wire : and name Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television text @233..323 | transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication text @359..408 | any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds rule /f3d/915/0493-01 @3937..4133 | The evidence of Boliaux's supervision of Joliet Motors, and his involvement in the payment-processing system, was sufficient to make the wire transmissions a foreseeable consequence of his scheme. gloss The defendant need not personally send the transmission. Boliaux affirmed a conviction where control of the dealership and payment system made the charged transmissions foreseeable; its quoted analysis is the district court reasoning expressly adopted on appeal. This is judicial construction of the statutory causation alternative. Foreseeability of wire use is distinct from proof that the charged transmission actually crossed state or national boundaries and furthered the scheme. element interstate : and name Interstate or foreign transmission text @324..357 | in interstate or foreign commerce rule /f3d/915/0493-01 @3650..3936 | The charged wire transmissions traveled across state lines-from Joliet Motors in Illinois and routed through Pennsylvania or Ohio, and they advanced the scheme to defraud the lenders because they were payments for a vehicle that had been sold to the detriment of the lender's interests. gloss The charged transmission must satisfy the jurisdictional requirement. Identify evidence of interstate routing, not simply the presence of a computer or telephone. element furtherance : and name Wire transmission for execution of scheme text @409..461 | for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice rule /f3d/926/0361-01 @9029..9241 | To establish wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, the government must prove the defendant (1) participated in a scheme to defraud, (2) intended to defraud, and (3) used interstate wires in furtherance of the fraud. rule /f3d/926/0361-01 @9651..9844 | Both parties agree the evidence presented to the trial court failed to establish the wire transfers that were the basis of Counts I-III. Buncich's conviction on Counts I-III is hereby reversed. gloss The wire act must further the fraudulent scheme; proof of a scheme cannot substitute for proof of the charged transmission. Buncich was an honest-services prosecution: its transmission/furtherance holding applies to the common communication requirement, not as a substitute for the property-fraud claim's separate property and materiality conjuncts. constraint domestic-application(scheme, wire) : Identify sufficient domestic conduct when a cross-border scheme is alleged rule /f3d/927/0108-01 @33665..33939 | We therefore hold that a claim predicated on mail or wire fraud involves sufficient domestic conduct when (1) the defendant used domestic mail or wires in furtherance of a scheme to defraud, and (2) the use of the mail or wires was a core component of the scheme to defraud. gloss Second Circuit domestic-application holding in a civil RICO case; do not replace ordinary furtherance with this core-component formulation in every domestic prosecution. element honest-services-boundary : and name Separate section 1346 theory; outside property-fraud claim text @94..123 | scheme or artifice to defraud rule /f3d/926/0361-01 @9374..9439 | An honest services fraud scheme covers only bribery or kickbacks. gloss Section 1346 supplies the intangible-right theory. Do not combine its different target with the property element above. Its bribery/kickback and fiduciary-duty limits require separate analysis; this boundary node is not a complete honest-services claim. xref 18 U.S.C. § 1346 | Definition extending scheme or artifice to defraud to deprivation of the intangible right of honest services.