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Identity Theft, Fraud, & Money Laundering Lawyers in Edmonton | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey

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Identity Theft, Fraud, & Money Laundering Lawyers in Edmonton | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866MenuHome Our Lawyers Alexander Pringle, Q.C. (1947-2015) Dan Chivers Michael D. Sparks Kent J. Teskey, Q.C. Lindsay Tate Nicole J. Stewart Evan McIntyre Curtis Steeves Laura Matalas Stephen Brophy Vita Wensel (Student at Law) Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonTheft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonFirearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Info Articles What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You Sentencing & Sentencing Options For Students Alexander D. Pringle Memorial Scholarship Articling Student Program Areas We Serve Edmonton Camrose Central Alberta Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande Prairie High Prairie Hinton Leduc Lloydminster Northern Alberta Peace River Red Deer Sherwood Park Southern Alberta St. Albert St. Paul Stony Plain Vermilion Wetaskiwin Fees Contact Theft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonTheft, fraud, property offences, and other financial offences are some of the most worldwide criminal charges faced by people in Alberta. Regular Albertans, often people without criminal records, wontedly find themselves facing these serious criminal allegations, which can put their livelihood – and plane their self-rule – at risk. Some worldwide examples of these sorts of offences include: Theft (including either theft over $5000 and theft under $5000), e.g., shoplifting, theft from an employer or “embezzlement,” motor vehicle theft, etc. Fraud (including either fraud over $5000 and fraud under $5000), e.g., credit vellum fraud, “white collar” frauds, insurance fraud, WCB fraud, Internet fraud, bankruptcy fraud, “commercial crime,” etc. Possession of stolen property (including either possession of stolen property over $5000 and under $5000), e.g., having property that you did not steal, but that you know someone else stole. Forgery and uttering a forged document, e.g., forging or interchange cheques. False pretenses, e.g., knowingly passing a bad cheque. Identity theft, e.g. “credit vellum skimming.” Money laundering and proceeds of crime. WHAT COULD HAPPEN TO ME IF I AM FOUND GUILTY OF ONE OF THESE CRIMES? Financial and property offences, such as theft and fraud, include a wide variety of variegated allegations and circumstances. As a result, the possible punishments are moreover wide-ranging. For example, sentences for theft and fraud can range from probation, to fines, to “house arrest,” all the way to a maximum punishment of ten to fourteen years in jail. If you are charged with theft, fraud, or flipside property or financial crime, is important to talk to a lawyer so you understand what you are facing, as well as your options. A lawyer can tell you what types of sentences people usually receive for variegated kinds of offences, and explain how you may be worldly-wise to stave a conviction or criminal record. For example, if you are a first-time offender with no criminal record, and if you are charged with a minor theft (such as simple shoplifting), the prosecutor might stipulate to “divert” the offence outside of the magistrate system through an “alternative measures” program. This could potentially indulge you to stave a criminal record altogether. At the other end of the scale, sophisticated thefts and frauds that involve millions of dollars often result in sentences of several years in prison. Besides the sentence imposed by a judge, there are other serious consequences of stuff found guilty: A criminal record can have employment consequences. Many jobs now require a criminal record check, and a conviction for an “offence of dishonesty” can make it very difficult to get some jobs. A criminal record can moreover interfere with your ability to travel.Unrepealablecountries, such as the United States, may turn you yonder if you have been found guilty of one of these offences. Courts can order that an offender pay restitution to the victim (i.e., pay when the value that was stolen, or the value of the property that was taken). These restitution orders may follow you for the rest of your life, plane if you later declare bankruptcy. Members of professional associations, such as medical professionals, teachers, accountants, or real manor agents, can have their professional designations suspended or revoked as a result of a criminal conviction. A conviction can moreover interfere with career aspirations by making it harder to join one of these professions in the future. It is more difficult to get a pardon (now tabbed a “criminal record suspension”) than in the past, at it can now take ten years (or longer) surpassing a person can wield to have their criminal record expunged. If you are not a Canadian citizen, a conviction for one of these offences could have serious immigration consequences. A conviction could make it harder to wilt a resider or permanent resident, or could plane rationalization you to be deported from Canada. The media often takes an interest in unrepealable theft and fraud cases, and a conviction may be reported in the news. HOW CAN A LAWYER HELP ME? A lawyer can help you at every stage in the criminal process: If you are under investigation, a lawyer can teach you well-nigh how to stave doing things that make it increasingly likely you will be charged, or things that might make it harder to defend the specimen versus you. A proactive tideway can often have significant benefits in defending your case. If you have already been charged with a crime, a lawyer can help you understand the vestige versus you, review the prosecutor’s case, discuss your side of the story, and help you understand how you might be worldly-wise to fight the charges. A lawyer can usually appear in magistrate on your behalf for preliminary appearances, preventing you from missing work or school unnecessarily. If you decide to plead guilty, a lawyer can help negotiate with the prosecutor, gather information that helps present you in the weightier light, explain the circumstances of the incident to the judge, and help get the weightier possible sentence. If you decide to plead not guilty and have a trial, a lawyer can help organize and present your defence, and identify weaknesses in the prosecutor’s specimen that could help convince a judge or jury that you are not guilty. A lawyer moreover understands the rules of vestige and other procedural rules, which can often be very complicated – and important – in financial or property trials. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your case, a lawyer can teach you well-nigh whether you might have grounds for an appeal. After a specimen is resolved, a lawyer can teach you well-nigh how you may be worldly-wise to have your fingerprints destroyed, and how you might stave having record of the allegations towards in unrepealable kinds of preliminaries checks. If you are charged with a crime, it is important that you find a lawyer who has wits defending people charged with these kinds of offences, who can requite you good advice, and who you can trust. The lawyers at Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey have wide-stretching wits recommending and representing people facing allegations of theft, fraud, “white collar” offences, property crime, commercial crime, and financial crime. This is one of our largest areas of practice, and all of our lawyers regularly defend these kinds of cases. We have secure people charged with everything from the most minor shoplifting cases, to sophisticated identity theft allegations, to multi-million dollar frauds. Our lawyers pride ourselves on our knowledge of the law and our practical, client-focused advice. Please contact us to discuss your case. We would be happy to speak with you, with no obligation and self-ruling of charge, to help you understand your situation.  WHAT IS “THEFT”? Most people have a good understanding of the treason of theft. At its most basic, theft involves fraudulently taking or removing someone else’s property, with the intent to deprive the other person of that property, permanently or plane temporarily. The treason of theft includes everything from shoplifting makeup from a drug store, all the way up to multi-million dollar embezzlement schemes. Simply taking someone else’s property without their permission is not unbearable to automatically make you guilty of theft. You moreover must have moved or taken the property “fraudulently,” or in other words, with quack intent. This ways that you must either have known that you were taking property that did not vest to you, have been “reckless” or “willfully blind” well-nigh whether you were taking property that did not vest to you. For example, if you get tumbled and unwittingly take someone else’s jacket from the stratify trammels at a restaurant, this isn’t automatically a theft. Carelessness or negligence is not unbearable to convict you of theft. But if you “see a risk” that the jacket isn’t yours and take it anyway, this could be unbearable for you to be found guilty. “Colour of right” is moreover a defence to the treason of theft. This defence may wield if you honestly, but mistakenly, believed that you had a legal right to take someone else’s property. WHAT IS “FRAUD”? Like theft, fraud is a very wholesale treason that covers all kinds of quack conduct. There are three key aspects to the offence of fraud: A quack act, A loss suffered by flipside party (or a risk of a loss), and, Knowledge that the act that it could result in flipside person suffering a loss (or the risk of a loss). These concepts might seem simple enough, but can get complicated very quickly, and fraud can be a very difficult treason to define. If you are in doubt well-nigh whether a unrepealable act might be fraudulent, you should get translating from a lawyer. 1. DISHONEST ACT In the words of the Criminal Code, a person commits fraud by “deceit, falsehood, or other fraudulent means.” This ways the quack act can include all kinds of misbehaviour. It can include outright lies or deception, and in unrepealable cases, it can plane include withholding important facts from someone (dishonesty by omission). A judge decides whether an act was quack by considering how a reasonable person would interpret the person’s behaviour. The judge is concerned with the “community standards of dishonesty.” The question a judge asks is: “Would an ordinary, reasonable person, who understands this merchantry or activity, consider this person’s deportment dishonest?” Deciding whether a reasonable person would consider an act quack can be tricky, and depends on all the circumstances. For example, if a person sells a car, they may not have to tell the proprietrix well-nigh problems with the car. The law often upholds the old truism “buyer beware.” “Sales talk” that simply exaggerates the car’s qualities might not be fraudulent. But if the proprietrix specifically asks the seller something (e.g. “has the car overly been in an accident?”) and the seller lies well-nigh it, a judge might consider this fraud. 2. LOSS OR RISK OF LOSS For a fraud to take place, flipside person needs to suffer some kind of pennilessness or loss. This loss has to be “pecuniary,” or in other words, some sort of financial loss that relates to money or property. If a quack act only hurts someone’s feelings, or gets someone an unfair wholesomeness that isn’t financial in any way, this isn’t unbearable for a person to have single-minded fraud. A “loss” includes plane the risk of a financial loss. As a result, plane if the dishonesty does not actually cause someone to lose any money or be deprived of anything valuable, a person can be guilty of fraud if there was a risk of this happening. 3. KNOWLEDGE OF THE RISK OF LOSS For someone to be guilty of fraud, they must have been personally enlightened that their behaviour would rationalization someone to suffer a loss, or that their behaviour put flipside person at risk. This ways that truly willy-nilly and plane negligent acts may not be fraudulent. A wasteful (but unintentional) misstatement well-nigh a product that a person was selling would not be unbearable for a fraud. The person who makes a negligent-but-accidental mistake is not enlightened that their behaviour was creating a risk that the other person would suffer a loss, and is not guilty of fraud. The question is not whether the person personally believed their behaviour was honest, however. Someone who unreasonably believes that their quack behaviour was honest can still be guilty of fraud. And a person can be guilt of fraud plane if he hoped that his behaviour wouldn’t rationalization anyone to lose money. It is sensation of the risk that matters, not the accused’s personal hopes or desires well-nigh the outcome. Finally, plane if a person did not actually know that their acts put flipside person’s money or property at risk, they can be found guilty if they are either reckless or “willfully blind” well-nigh whether their behaviour created a risk of a loss. If a person “sees a risk” of a financial loss and decides to “take a chance,” this can be unbearable for a fraud. 4. EXAMPLES OF FRAUDS The technical unravelment of fraud is complicated, but some examples of variegated types of fraud help explain the offence: “Ponzi schemes” and similar deceptive investment schemes. Credit and debit vellum fraud, where false or stolen cards or vellum numbers are used to make purchases or withdraw money. Making quack statements or promises during a merchantry transaction or the sale of property, e.g., selling a car with an odometer that has been rolled back. Submitting false expense or reimbursement claims where there is no legal justification for the claim. Insurance fraud, where someone defrauds their insurer by providing false or incomplete information. Retail fraud schemes, where stolen items are returned to a store for a refund, or where bar codes are unsimilar surpassing an item is purchased or returned. Mortgage fraud schemes, where “straw buyers” of homes are used to sign up for mortgages. What each of these very variegated offences has in worldwide is (a) a quack act, (b) that deprives someone of money or property, (c) where the offender is enlightened there is a risk that someone will suffer a loss. WHAT IS “POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY”?  It is versus the law to possess property that you know was obtained by the legation of flipside crime. When the other treason is theft, this offence is tabbed “possession of stolen property.” This ways it is versus the law to possess something that you know was stolen, plane if you did not personally steal it.Planeif you did not actually know that something was stolen, you can be guilty of possession of stolen property if you were “reckless” or “willfully blind” well-nigh whether it was stolen. A person is “reckless” if they “see the risk” that something might be stolen, but “take a chance” by possessing it anyway. A person is “willfully blind” if they have some reason to question whether the property was stolen, but deliberately stave asking questions that might rationalization them to find out whether it was stolen – considering they do not want to find out whether it was stolen. It is a kind of “deliberate ignorance.” So for example, if you bought a car stereo in a when alley, for a tenth of its usual price, from someone you have never met before, out of the trunk of their car, paying cash, without any subtitle from the seller for why it was so cheap… a judge may decide that you were reckless or willfully veiling well-nigh whether the stereo was stolen. The judge could infer that you at least suspected that the stereo was “hot” but decided to buy it anyway. If, however, you don’t see any risk that property was stolen, and don’t see any need to ask increasingly questions to find out if it was stolen, you have a defence (even if a increasingly reasonable person might have asked increasingly questions). So for example, if you bought a stolen car but had no idea that it was stolen, and you did not suspect it might have been stolen, and you did not deliberately stave asking questions that might rationalization you to find out, you are not guilty of possession of stolen property. A person can moreover be in “possession” of the stolen property in variegated ways. Possessing something obviously includes personally possessing it: for example, if you have a stolen wallet in your pocket. But possession moreover includes situations where you have knowledge and control over the stolen property, plane if you are not directly in possession of it, and plane if it is “not yours.” For example, if a friend asks to store a TV in your garage, and if you know that the TV is stolen, you could be guilty of possession of stolen property. You know the TV is stolen, you know it is stored in your garage, and you have control over what gets stored in your garage. This is unbearable for you to “possess” the stolen property, plane if the TV was not stored there for your benefit. WHAT ARE SOME OTHER COMMON FINANCIAL AND PROPERTY CRIMES? Forgery & uttering a forged document: It is versus the law in some circumstances to forge a document, or to deceptively yo-yo a genuine document. It is moreover versus the law in many circumstances to use (or “utter”) a document you know or believe is forged. For example, a person might yo-yo a prescription from a doctor by increasing the prescription, say from 10 pills to 100 pills, and then present the prescription to a pharmacist, in the hopes of getting increasingly pills than were really prescribed. Obtaining credit/property by false pretenses: “False pretenses” is a specific form of fraud, often charged when a person intentionally passes a bad cheque. Identity theft offences: It is versus the law to possess information that is wontedly used to identify a person (such as their Social Insurance Number or driver’s licence number) if a judge can reasonably infer that the reason for possessing the information was to commit a fraud-related offence. It is moreover versus the law to distribute or sell this kind of personal information if you know, or have reason to suspect, that the personal information will be used to commit a fraud-related crime. Impersonation offences: For example, it is versus the law to fraudulently impersonate (or, in the old-fashioned language used in the Criminal Code, “personate”) flipside person, in order to rationalization some sort of wholesomeness for themselves or flipside person. Credit vellum offences: It is a treason to steal or forge a credit card, or use a credit vellum knowing that it has been revoked or cancelled. Counterfeiting offences: It is versus the law to make unverified money, or to possess or use unverified money if you know (or suspect) that it is counterfeit. Motor vehicle theft: Parliament has created a specific offence of theft of a motor vehicle, with mandatory minimum punishments in some cases. There is moreover a specific criminal offence of taking flipside person’s motor vehicle and using it without their consent. Electricity or telecommunication theft: There are specific criminal offences that make it versus the law to dishonestly use electricity (e.g. shirk a utility company’s electricity meter) or telecommunication services (e.g. stealing subscription service from the subscription company). ARE THERE DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS FOR THEFTS OR FRAUDS INVOLVING A PERSON’S EMPLOYER? The Alberta courts take thefts from employers very seriously. When an employee steals from an employer, the law considers this a “breach of trust.” This is an trying factor when a person is sentenced. In other words, this makes a judge treat the offence much increasingly seriously. The AlbertaMagistrateofRequesthas told lower courts that, unless there are unrenowned circumstances, a person should go to jail for stealing from their employer. There are sometimes ways to stave jail where the offence does not involve much money, or where there are particularly unusual circumstances surrounding the offence. It is unscratched to say, however, that it is very worldwide for people convicted of theft from an employer to go to jail. Other thefts that are moreover considered a “breach of trust” are treated equally seriously – for example, stealing from a club, charity, or society if you are an officer of the organization, or stealing from someone who is vulnerable and who you take superintendency of, such as an elderly parent. You should consult with a lawyer right yonder if you are facing an recrimination that you stole money from an employer or defrauded an employer. These are often among the most serious of thefts and frauds, and it is essential that you receive legal advice. SOMEONE WANTS TO TALK TO ME AND I THINK THEY HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT WHETHER I STOLE FROM THEM (OR DEFRAUDED THEM, OR COMMITTED SOME OTHER FINANCIAL CRIME). SHOULD I TALK TO A LAWYER BEFORE I MEET WITH THEM? It is not unusual for a police officer to contact someone they suspect might be involved in a crime. The officer might not start the conversation by saying “you’re a suspect, I think you did it, I’m probably going to trespassing you, and I’m going to try to make you confess” – plane if this is all true. Instead, the first phone undeniability might be much less threatening. An officer could simply say that they want to “sort things out” or “get your side of the story.” Or the officer might say he needs to speak with you to “just to tropical the file.” Likewise, if your employer has suspicions well-nigh whether you have been stealing from the visitor or committing a fraud, someone from your employer may try to speak with you. A “loss prevention officer” or “corporate security officer” might visit you and ask you to speak with them, or your manager might undeniability you into their office and start asking you questions. These situations can be plane increasingly dangerous, considering everything you say can be used versus you in court, but you may not have as many rights as if the police were asking the questions. Or, you may be contacted by a lawyer for someone who claims you defrauded them. You may be sent a letter taxing that you pay when money, or be served with magistrate papers. No matter what the circumstances, it is virtually unchangingly a good idea to talk to a lawyer surpassing you talk to anyone about these sorts of allegations. Quite often, it is difficult for a prosecutor to prove that someone is guilty of theft, fraud, or flipside financial treason unless they admits things that help “plug the holes” in the case.Planeif you do not shoehorn you are guilty, and plane if you honestly try to explain why you are innocent, you can unwittingly tell investigators things that make it easier to prove your guilt. Many people worry that consulting with a lawyer will “make them squint guilty,” but it is far increasingly important that you get good translating well-nigh your situation than worrying well-nigh how you “might look.” The potential consequences are too significant for you to take chances when speaking with the police. You have the right to talk to a lawyer, and both innocent and guilty people need legal advice. The fact that you consulted with a lawyer cannot be used to prove your guilt in court. For increasingly detailed information well-nigh why you should undeniability a lawyer, please read our page on “The police want to speak with me…” Contact Us (780) 424-8866lawyers@pringlelaw.ca Leave this Blank if are sentient Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonTheft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonFirearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey300-10150 100 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0P6lawyers@pringlelaw.caUndeniabilityus 24/7: (780) 424-8866 Copyright © 2018 Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey | Disclaimer Menu /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */