The federal government may base a criminal prosecution for mail fraud on allegations that corporate officers defrauded a regulatory agency of statutory fees and royalty payments, a Middle District judge in Pennsylvania has ruled, because the agency’s expectation of such fees is a property interest. But the court held that civil penalties for noncompliance with its regulations can’t form the sole basis of a federal mail-fraud indictment charging that the officers defrauded the agency of “money or property.”
Chief Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania handed down the decision in U.S. v. Mariani, a federal criminal prosecution of Renato P. Mariani, Michael L. Serafini, Leo R. Del Serra and Alan W. Stephens, all corporate officers of Empire Sanitary Landfill Inc.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
