White Collar Crime Defense Attorneys in Arizona

Phoenix Criminal Lawyers Fighting White Collar Crime Charges

There are many different types of crimes that can be committed, and many of them involve schemes that deal with fraud, paperwork and other items that can constitute what’s known as white collar crime. Arizona has several different laws in existence that deal with white collar crime, but many of these crimes can also be prosecuted at the federal level. Regardless of the jurisdiction, white collar crimes are serious offenses, and anyone facing these charges needs the help of an experienced Phoenix criminal defense lawyer.

Below you’ll find information regarding the different types of AZ white collar crimes, examples of federal white collar crimes, the potential punishments that could result from a conviction of the charges and finally how you should proceed if you or someone you love faces the prospect of being investigated, arrested or prosecuted for white collar crimes in Arizona.

Arizona White Collar Crimes

There are several different crimes that could be considered white collar crime, but they can basically be broken down into a few different categories. These crimes appear below.

Theft

Arizona deals with several different white collar crimes under the heading of theft, and examples of these crimes include embezzlement, theft and larceny. Each is a different crime, but they all basically involve the wrongful taking of money or valuable goods through deceit. Generally, the severity of these crimes depends on the value of the money, property or good taken. These value differentiations appear below:

• Less than $1,000 – Class 1 misdemeanor/up to 6 months in jail
• Between $1,000 - $1,999 – Class 6 felony/up to two years in prison
• Between $2,000 - $2,999 – Class 5 felony/up to 2.5 years in prison
• Between $3,000 - $3,999 – Class 4 felony/up to 3.75 years in prison
• Between $4,000 - $24,999 – Class 3 felony/up to 8.75 years in prison
• $25,000 or more – Class 2 felony/up to 12.5 years in prison

In addition to the schedule above, if the property/goods/money wrongfully converted is worth at least $100,000 and it was procured by way of misrepresentation and/or with an intent to deprive the rightful owner of the property, the sentence imposed can be handed down without the possibility of parole.

Bribery

Bribery is largely self-explanatory, and it involves payment of money or some other consideration in return for some act, omission or some other form of influence to be done for the person paying the bribe. There are actually two different forms of bribery in the Arizona statutes – commercial bribery and bribery of a public servant.

Commercial bribery could loosely be labeled as ‘classic’ bribery, in which a private party pays another private party. Both paying and accepting a bribe are crimes, and any payment more than $100 is considered a felony. Bribery of a public servant is payment given to an official for influence on a vote, police action or some other legal aspect of society, and these bribes are always felonies.

Fraud

There are many different types of fraud, and all of them involve procuring money, property or anything else of value from someone based on false pretenses with the intent to deprive the other person of ownership of these items of value. Below are some of the different types of fraud that can be committed:

• Wire fraud
• Mail fraud
• Internet fraud
• Health care fraud
• Credit card fraud
• Real estate fraud
• Banking fraud
• Securities fraud

Under AZ state law, these types of fraud are generally classified as Class 2 felonies and can carry a prison term of up to 12.5 years in prison. However, if any of these fraudulent schemes cross Arizona state lines, they can be prosecuted by the federal government and can involve mandatory minimum sentencing.

RICO

RICO is a federal law that stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. This is a federal law that was basically put together to deal with ongoing criminal enterprises and organized crime. Basically, RICO allows prosecutors to tie parties together in a conspiracy without actual knowledge of what each of the other parties was doing.

How an Phoenix Criminal Defense Lawyer Can Help

White collar crimes that are prosecuted either in Arizona or by the federal government generally involve proof that can be documented. In short, if you or someone you love faces the prospect of being prosecuted for any white collar crime, you owe it to yourself to secure the help of an experienced AZ white collar criminal defense lawyer as soon as possible, as building a defense against these charges can be extremely complicated and involve a high degree of skill and experience from an Arizona criminal defense lawyer. Contact the Phoenix attorneys at the Hock Law Group today to get this process started.