Mail and wire fraud – Wikipedia

Abuse and overcriminalization[edit]

The scope of 18 U.S.C. §1341 and 18 U.S.C. §1343 is broad. These statutes have been held by the Supreme Court to encompass “everything designed to defraud by representations as to the past or present, or suggestions and promises as to the future.”^[12] Lower courts have progressively expanded this ruling, finding that the law “puts its imprimatur on the accepted moral standards and condemns conduct which fails to match the ‘reflection of moral uprightness, of fundamental honesty, fair play and right dealing in the general and business life of members of society’”.^[13] As interpreted, these requirements are not difficult to meet; the Justice Department claims to defer federal prosecution for petty local fraud.

In 1987, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in McNally v. United States to narrow the scope of the mail and wire fraud statutes, ruling that the statute pertained only to schemes to defraud victims of tangible property, including money. In 1988, Congress enacted a new law that specifically criminalized schemes to defraud victims of “the intangible right of honest services” (honest services fraud).