Wire fraud

Wire fraud is a legal concept in the United States Code which provides for enhanced penalty of any criminal activity if it is determined that the occurrence of the crime involved electronic communications of any sort, at any phase of the event. Like mail fraud, this statute is often used as a basis for a separate federal prosecution of what would otherwise have been only a violation of a state law.

Related Topics:
United States Code - Criminal activity - Electronic - Communications - Mail fraud

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The legal definition of wire fraud in the US is:

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:TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 63 > § 1343. Fraud by wire, radio, or television 2004-08-06

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:Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

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In one important case (United States v. LaMacchia), an MIT student was charged with wire fraud when he could not be charged with criminal copyright infringement (having not personally profited from the online distribution of millions of dollars worth of illegally copied software). The First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the charges, noting they were an attempt to find a (federal) crime where one had not occurred. Congress promptly amended the copyright law to limit further use of this loophole.

Related Topics:
United States v. LaMacchia - MIT - Copyright - Infringement - Copyright law

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