![]() ![]() The general purpose of this part of the statute is to protect governmental functions from frustration and distortion through deceptive practices. It is not necessary that the Government shall be subjected to property or pecuniary loss by the fraud, but only that its legitimate official action and purpose shall be defeated by misrepresentation, chicane or the overreaching of those charged with carrying out the governmental intention. In Hammerschmidt, Chief Justice Taft, defined "defraud" as follows: To conspire to defraud the United States means primarily to cheat the Government out of property or money, but it also means to interfere with or obstruct one of its lawful governmental functions by deceit, craft or trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest. (A)ny conspiracy which is calculated to obstruct or impair its efficiency and destroy the value of its operation and reports as fair, impartial and reasonably accurate, would be to defraud the United States by depriving it of its lawful right and duty of promulgating or diffusing the information so officially acquired in the way and at the time required by law or departmental regulation. ![]() In Hass the Court stated: The statute is broad enough in its terms to include any conspiracy for the purpose of impairing, obstructing or defeating the lawful function of any department of government. Both offenses require the traditional elements of Section 371 conspiracy, including an illegal agreement, criminal intent, and proof of an overt act.Īlthough this language is very broad, cases rely heavily on the definition of "defraud" provided by the Supreme Court in two early cases, Hass v. This clause creates a separate offense from the "offense clause" in Section 371. The operative language is the so-called "defraud clause," that prohibits conspiracies to defraud the United States. See Project, Tenth Annual Survey of White Collar Crime, 32 Am. § 371, creates an offense "f two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose. For example, you may conspire to commit murder, or conspire to commit fraud.The general conspiracy statute, 18 U.S.C. Others impose lesser penalties.Ĭonspiracy applies to both civil and criminal offenses. Some conspiracy statutes assign the same punishment for conspiracy as for the target offense. Where no one has actually committed a criminal act, the punishment varies. ![]() Thus, where one or more members of the conspiracy committed illegal acts to further the conspiracy's goals, all members of the conspiracy may be held accountable for those acts. In addition, conspiracies allow for derivative liability where conspirators can also be punished for the illegal acts carried out by other members, even if they were not directly involved. The illegal act is the conspiracy's "target offense.”Ĭonspiracy generally carries a penalty on its own. An overt act is a statutory requirement, not a constitutional one. jurisdictions also require an overt act toward furthering the agreement. Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act, along with an intent to achieve the agreement's goal. ![]()
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