Romance Fraud

Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. Section 1343 is the most common charge in romance fraud cases. It criminalizes the use of electronic communications to execute a scheme to defraud. Conspiracy charges allow the government to hold a defendant liable for the actions of the entire network.

We defend against these charges by attacking the element of agreement. A conspiracy requires a meeting of the minds to commit a crime. We argue that a victim who believes they are helping a romantic partner has not agreed to commit a crime. We present evidence of the deception used against our client. We show the text messages and the fake documents sent by the scammer to prove that our client was a pawn in the scheme rather than a partner. We dismantle the conspiracy allegation by showing that our client was the target of the fraud rather than a perpetrator of it.

Prosecutors often use the doctrine of willful blindness to convict individuals who claim they did not know the money was stolen. They argue that the defendant ignored red flags that would have alerted a reasonable person to the illegality of the transactions.

We refute the willful blindness narrative. We contextualize the behavior of the client within the reality of the romantic relationship. We use expert witnesses in coercive control and psychological manipulation to explain why a smart person would ignore red flags when under the influence of a skilled manipulator. We demonstrate that the client was not closing their eyes to crime but was blinded by emotional manipulation. We force the government to prove actual knowledge rather than just negligence.

The most powerful defense is the lack of criminal intent. We gather every scrap of communication between the client and the scammer. We look for the lies told by the scammer to justify the transfers.

If the scammer claimed to be a diplomat with a frozen asset account or a construction engineer needing equipment supplies we present this backstory to the prosecutor. We argue that the client had a good faith belief in the legitimacy of the transaction. We use the Good Faith jury instruction to argue that an honest belief in the truth of the representations is a complete defense to fraud. We humanize the client to show that their only crime was trusting the wrong person.

We treat the grooming process as a mitigating factor and a defense to the element of intent. Scammers use techniques similar to domestic abusers to isolate and control their victims.

We document the timeline of the relationship. We show how the scammer built trust over months before asking for money. We highlight the emotional vulnerability of the client at the time of the contact. If the client was recently widowed or divorced they were a prime target. We argue that the psychological hold the scammer had on the client made it impossible for them to view the transactions objectively. We use this context to persuade prosecutors to decline charges or to offer a diversionary resolution instead of a felony conviction.

We employ forensic experts to analyze the fraudulent websites. We show that the trading data was manipulated. For clients accused of promoting these platforms we prove they were also deceived by the fake returns.

We trace the domain registration and the server locations. Often these sites are hosted on offshore servers known for hosting illicit activity. We use this technical data to show the sophistication of the criminal enterprise. We argue that our client lacked the technical knowledge to understand they were part of a scam. We demonstrate that they believed the profits were real and that they were sharing a legitimate opportunity with friends and family rather than soliciting victims for a fraud.

The use of cryptocurrency like Tether or Bitcoin makes romance fraud harder to track but not impossible. The blockchain is a permanent ledger.

We analyze the wallet addresses involved in the case. For defense clients we trace the flow of funds to show that they did not retain the money. If the client received funds and immediately forwarded them to a wallet controlled by the syndicate it proves they were a mule and not the beneficiary. We use this flow of funds analysis to negotiate lower restitution amounts and to prove that the client did not profit from the crime. We challenge the government loss calculations by showing that the client was a pass-through entity.

Banks have a duty to monitor for suspicious activity. If a bank ignored obvious signs of money laundering or elder financial abuse they may be liable for the loss.

We investigate the compliance failures of the financial institutions involved. If a bank allowed an elderly customer to wire their entire life savings to a known high-risk jurisdiction without asking questions we file claims for negligence and aiding and abetting fraud. We scrutinize the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols of the bank. We argue that the bank was the last line of defense and their failure to act facilitated the romance fraud.

Often the only person within reach of the US court system is the money mule who received the initial transfer. We file civil lawsuits against these individuals for unjust enrichment and conversion.

We argue that they have no legal right to the funds they received. Even if they were also tricked they are not entitled to keep the money of our client. We seek the immediate return of any funds remaining in their possession. We use the discovery process in the civil suit to find out where the rest of the money went. We depose the mule to get the contact information and the digital trail of the ultimate perpetrators. We use every legal tool to claw back assets for our client.

We must prove that the person on the other end of the chat was a scammer. We analyze the metadata of the messages.

We look for IP addresses that originate from known scam hubs in West Africa or Southeast Asia. We look for the use of VPNs and voice-changing software. We use linguistics experts to analyze the writing style of the scammer. Often the script is used on multiple victims. If we can link the messages sent to our client to a known script used by a criminal syndicate it validates the defense that the client was a victim of a professional operation. We ensure that the jury sees the full context of the manipulation.

Scammers use stolen photos of models or soldiers or doctors. We conduct reverse image searches to identify the true owner of the photos.

We track down the real person whose identity was stolen. We obtain affidavits from them stating they never communicated with our client. This proves the romance fraud conclusively. For defense clients this is critical to showing they were interacting with a ghost. We destroy the credibility of the government claim that the client should have known better by showing how convincing the fake identity was. We demonstrate that the scammer used high-quality forged documents and deepfake technology to fool the client.