San Antonio Bank Fraud Lawyer
Explanation of Bank Fraud
Bank fraud can be charged in a wide variety of scenarios. The defendant may be accused of hiding assets in offshore accounts or of engaging in money laundering in order to hide the transfer of funds obtained through drug trafficking. It may be a small scale activity such as knowingly entering false information on a loan application, forging checks or writing bad checks. Bank fraud is a white collar crime that is charged as a federal offense.
United States Code Title 18 §1344, “Bank Fraud” states that the crime occurs when one knowingly executes or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice for one of the following purposes:
- Defrauding a financial institution
- Obtaining any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a bank by any means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises
Simply put, bank fraud consists of attempting to cheat the bank in order to obtain money that is not yours. In some cases, it is part of a large-scale and highly organized criminal activity, while in others it is a single person who has made an honest mistake. Whatever the circumstances of the case, it is vitally important to hire a San Antonio criminal defense lawyer to represent you with the authorities and to fight to defend you against the consequences you face. A conviction for this felony offense is punishable by a sentence of up to $1 million in fines and 30 years in federal prison.
San Antonio Defense Against Bank Fraud Charges
The key to successfully defending against bank fraud charges is to retain legal representation immediately after you learn that you are under suspicion. Investigations for bank fraud and similar crimes often take a considerable amount of time before an arrest and filing of charges, if you hire an attorney during this period, he or she may be able to handle the situation without any further complication. The lawyer might be able to have the investigation dropped, or may be able to negotiate with law enforcement for a reduction in charges and a plea bargain which avoids imprisonment.
If you or a loved one has been arrested, you cannot afford any delay in getting an attorney involved. Contact the Law Office of Kerrisa Chelkowski for dependable and trustworthy legal help from a 10.0 Superb Avvo Rated lawyer, ranked by both my peers and past clients.