A fraud or white-collar crime charge can affect your finances, your career, and your reputation long before a case ever reaches trial. These charges cover a wide range of conduct, from a single disputed transaction to a complex scheme involving multiple parties, and the Crown treats them seriously. If you are under investigation or have already been charged with fraud in Mississauga or the surrounding area, understanding how these charges work is the first step toward building a proper defence.
Fraud is defined broadly under as depriving another person, or the public, of property, money, or a valuable security through deceit, falsehood, or other dishonest means. This definition covers far more than the stereotypical image of fraud. It can apply to misrepresentations in a business deal, false statements used to obtain a loan or benefit, or deliberately misleading a client or investor.
As with theft, the value involved affects how a fraud charge proceeds through the court system. Fraud under a certain dollar amount is generally treated differently than fraud over that amount, which is prosecuted as a straight indictable offence. For a closer look at how that threshold works in a theft context, see our page on theft over and under $5,000.
Some of the most serious fraud allegations involve a person in a position of trust: an employee, a director, a caregiver, or anyone else who was relied upon to act honestly with someone else’s money or property. Criminal breach of trust, addressed under, applies when that trust is used to defraud the person or organization who extended it.
In practice, this often shows up as employment-related fraud: an employee diverting company funds, falsifying expense claims, manipulating financial records, or misusing a company credit card. Because these cases usually involve a paper trail, a bookkeeping record, an email chain, an account log, they tend to turn heavily on documentary evidence rather than witness testimony, which changes how a defence is prepared from the outset.
A growing share of fraud allegations now involve the internet or a computer in some way: online scams, phishing schemes, unauthorized access to someone else’s accounts, or fraudulent use of banking or credit card information obtained electronically.
These cases can overlap with other computer-related offences, including unauthorized use of a computer under. For a broader look at how charges involving digital evidence are investigated and defended, see our page on internet and computer crimes.
Because these cases rely so heavily on digital evidence, device forensics, IP address records, transaction logs, the disclosure process is often more technical and more time-consuming than in a typical fraud file, and deserves a correspondingly close review.
Fraud investigations frequently begin with a complaint from a financial institution, an employer, or an individual, and are often carried out by a specialized fraud unit rather than general patrol officers. Because these cases can involve large volumes of financial records, they tend to take longer to investigate than many other criminal matters, and it is common for a person to learn they are under investigation well before any charge is laid.
Once a charge is laid, the Crown is required to disclose the evidence it intends to rely on. In a fraud case, that disclosure can be extensive: bank records, corporate documents, digital communications, and financial analysis. A careful review of that material, rather than assumptions about what it shows, is where a proper defence begins.
Every fraud case turns on its own facts, so there is no single defence that applies across the board. In general terms, an effective defence involves closely examining whether the Crown can actually prove the elements of the offence: that deceit, falsehood, or other dishonest means were used, and that this caused an actual deprivation or risk of deprivation to the other party. It also means scrutinizing how the evidence was gathered, whether the financial analysis behind the charge is accurate, and whether the case is one that can be resolved short of trial.
This section intentionally avoids describing specific outcomes or likely results, since every case depends on its own evidence and circumstances. Please review this section in particular and add any general points about approach you are comfortable standing behind publicly.
If you believe you are under investigation for fraud, or you have already been charged, the earlier you speak with a lawyer, the more options are usually available to you. This is true even before a charge is formally laid: what you say and do during an investigation can affect the case that follows.
Contact Aswani K. Datt for a confidential consultation to discuss your situation and understand the process ahead.