Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Mail and Wire Fraud Post 'Kelly v. United States'
Under the federal mail and wire fraud statutes, it is a crime to "obtain[] money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises," or to deprive someone of the "intangible right of honest services." 18 U.S.C. §§1341, 1343, 1346. The scope of these prohibitions has expanded over time. This expansion has been met with infrequent, but significant, pushback from the courts. Perhaps most prominent is the line of Supreme Court decisions which initially resisted and later narrowed the scope of "honest services" fraud. See, McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350 (1987); Skilling v. United States, 130 S. Ct. 2896 (2010); McDonnell v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2355 (2016).
In Kelly v. United States, 140 S. Ct. 1565 (2020), the Supreme Court turned its attention to a fraud scheme premised on "obtaining money or property." Id. at 1572. In that case, the Supreme Court rejected the government's theory of "property." A unanimous court held that a scheme was not intended to "obtain property" when its objective was to misuse government officials' regulatory powers, or when monetary losses were "incidental," and not the actual object of the scheme.
This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only
ENJOY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE SINGLE SOURCE OF OBJECTIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS, PRACTICAL INSIGHTS, AND NEWS IN ENTERTAINMENT LAW.
- Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
- Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
- Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts
Already a have an account? Sign In Now Log In Now
For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.