Custom fraud or evasion is a prevailing issue in federal courts in the main American ports of entry such as New York and New Jersey. Amongst the most common evasion schemes are double invoicing, concealing the country of origin, providing false product description, not declaring assists and falsely  increasing product value,

Double invoicing is when foreign manufacturers and importers make a deal to divide the per unit cost between two invoices but only one of which is presented at entry. The second invoice for the balance is not presented; the manufactures will send it directly to the importer who will pay for it separately.

The reason double invoices schemes are often detected is because the importers must alter numerous business and financial documents during the process. Law enforcement can easily understand what has happened when they compel the importer to produce documents using administrative subpoenas. In fact, Customs officers are authorized to demand production of documents even if there is no reasonable cause to believe that a crime has been committed.

In some cases, manufacturers lie about the country of origin so that they can avoid rates of duty, quotas, and embargoes. In these situation, foreign manufacturers will ship merchandise to another country and is then re-shipped to the U.S.

Providing false product descriptions may be used where very similar products of comparable value have significantly different rates of duty.

Failure to declare assists is another type of customs fraud. An assist is any product of value which the buyer gives for free to the manufacturer in order to assist the manufacturer in its production of the merchandise. . Because the manufacture doesn’t pay for the product, its value is not part of the price charged to the buyer, resulting in the declaring lower value of the imported merchandise. In this situation, it is not a crime for the buyer to give an assist to the manufacturer, but it is a crime not to declare it. If you have a legal issue involving the U.S. Customs, call our New York custom fraud lawyers at (212) 577 6677 for a confidential consultation.

According to the Fourth Amendment, all government searches must be reasonable: people have “the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.”  So what does “reasonable” mean?

First, the general rule is that a search is not allowed if it violates your legitimate expectation of privacy.  Legally, you have this expectation in places like your home but not somewhere like your co-worker’s briefcase.  You may be surprised to learn that your trash is not protected under this doctrine – anything that you put at the curb may be lawfully searched.

Next, if the police have probable cause to search your papers and they get a warrant, you have essentially forfeited your expectation of privacy and are now subject to a search.

If you keep your important documents in your car, they may be at risk of being searched if you’re stopped.  If police officers think that the circumstances are “exigent” (if they don’t search you now, they’ll have lost their chance forever), they can go ahead with the search even without a warrant.  Cars are of course movable objects that won’t necessarily be there waiting while officers go to get the warrant, so the law often allows on-the-spot searches.

Officers don’t need to rely on any of these requirements if you give consent.  You can allow a search even where you don’t have to, but you should know that you are free to refuse consent. By refusing consent, you can make the officers comply with the full set of legal safeguards before they get to your property.

The law of Fourth Amendment searches and seizures is complicated, so if you have any questions or concerns, you should discuss them with a qualified attorney.  At Joseph Potashnik & Associates, our New York attorneys are available for confidential consultations. Call us at 212-577-6677 today.

Theft of donations from a non-profit organization generally involves the misappropriation of charitable donations for other than their intended purpose.  This is typically accomplished through embezzlement, but can also involve the purchase of goods not useful or necessary for the operation of the charity and has its benefit derives by another individual.  Many of these cases, for example, have involved one with a fiduciary duty to a charity buying gifts and organizing lavish events for friends and families.  This represents an expense that is inconsistent with the goals of the charity, as expressed to donors.  In addition to the fiduciary duty of the employees to the charities, the charity itself must mean reasonable levels of transparency and use donations to the mission set in the filing the 501c3 papers for certification with the federal government.

Federal probes and investigations into charities may the result of tips or other suspicious activity.  The defining factor in many federal investigations is the scope of the charity and those that solicit donations or work in different states will fall under federal jurisdictions.

During a probe of a charity, all facets of that, from solicitation to spending decisions will be subject to scrutiny and those that are found to benefit from or embezzle from the charity will be subject to criminal charges.

If you are under investigation for stealing from a charity, contact our New York white-collar criminal defense lawyers today at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation.

In many workplaces, claiming false overtime is a fireable offense and one that might lead to civil action against you to recoup the losses sustained by the company.  In many instances, this long-term fraud might not be noticed for a number of years at which point the employee might have made off with a substantial sum in ill-gotten wages.

In many instances, with the assistance of compliant doctors, these overtime benefits can also include disability pay and other worker’s compensation benefits, in addition to extra wages.  However egregious this might seem, hundreds of public employees are found to exploit employee benefit schemes every year.

Public employees are especially at risk to criminal investigation as a result into employee practices and internal audits.  Some employees might have a “good faith” belief in the benefits they receive are honest, while others might be implicated in the wrongdoing of others.  Regardless of the intent or benefits received, legal representation might be necessary to protect your job and you current benefits.

Speak with our New York corruption criminal defense lawyer today at 212-577-6677 to discuss your legal options and possible criminal liability.

An increasingly common type of fraud involves a scammer posing as an employee of the Social Security Administration to gain sensitive information from beneficiaries.  There are a number of reasons that the scammer might give for contact the beneficial, including verifying contact information or enrollment in a new benefits plan.

In reality, the purposes of this call are to learn vital information including but not limited to social security numbers, birthdays and bank information.  Subsequent fraudulent activity will include the illegal access of those bank accounts and other financial records.

Regardless of the intention for tricking others into divulging sensitive information, posing as an SSA employee is a form of Social Security fraud and will be investigated by the Office of the Inspector General.  The investigation will track activity on the stolen information as well as the means used to obtain that information.  Any subsequent fraud will also add to the charges against the criminal.  Using stolen social security information to apply for and collect benefits will entail criminal felony charges.

Speak with our New York white-collar criminal lawyers today for an assessment of your legal options.  Schedule a consultation by calling (212) 577-6677 today.

In states with heavy excise taxes, smuggling might be considered a profitable scheme, including but not limited to cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline.  None of these products are more valuable than cigarettes, which is subject to high taxes in state such as New York.

Residents in these states might travel to other states to avoid these taxes, but the criminal element will involve reselling those products, such as cigarettes either directly to consumers or other merchants.

This effectively avoids the higher taxation, although state authorities will inevitably investigate the sale of such products.  Any scheme that involves sales in multiple states will also be subject to federal investigation, as the government will regulate interstate commerce.

Cigarette smuggling is tightly investigated and criminal penalties enforce in no small part due to its use by other criminal organizations in addition to other conventional criminal schemes.  Larger scams might have the cigarettes and other tobacco products sold directly from a shell company.  Other instances may have the money laundered through the buying and selling cigarettes and other goods.

If you are facing criminal penalties for selling cigarettes bough in the other state, you are facing violations of taxation laws.  Call our New York criminal attorneys today at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation.

Many District Attorneys will have bank fraud investigation divisions that will take complaints about bad checks being passed and investigate if the banking fraud takes place within that locality or will refer that case to the relevant federal authority.  Patterns of passing multiple bad checks will be analyzed in this way, especially across multiple states, which is a federal criminal matter.

Check fraud can be carried out in a number of ways, including but not limited to theft of goods and services through forged checks, but also taking advantage of funds floated to cover checks and scamming employees out of pay through the use of counterfeit checks.  Although the employee will initially be under investigation for cashing that fraudulent check, the investigation will inevitably lead back to the scammer that created the fake document.

Those that have received and cashed a fake check may find themselves under investigation and may be held responsible for the funds that the bank has lost due to the fraud.  Those that are under investigation will benefit from the services of a New York white-collar criminal lawyer to assist with organizing your defense and cooperating with an investigation.

Contact our New York City criminal lawyers today at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation

Inciting others to commit fraud as part of a criminal conspiracy is a classic aspect of both organized crime and large scale schemes to defraud.

Prior to the enactment of federal laws against racketeering and conspiracy organizers of these fraud schemes would be able to recruit straw men or order subordinates to carry out the promotion and execution of schemes to defraud, with no risk on their part.  Laws and law enforcement tactics have changed now to accommodate the use of subpoenas on important records and inducing accomplices and others with involvement in the fraud.

Inciting others to commit fraud can include placing advertising, training others to engage in fraud, creating and facilitating programs to commit fraud.  The ringleader of the conspiracy, even when not committing any part of the crime, will have criminal liability for formulating the fraud.

Those involved in fraudulent criminal conspiracies can mount an abandonment defense, if they leave the conspiracy before the crime is committed and there is no immediate threat of arrest.  If you are under investigation for directing others to commit fraud, you should speak with our New York white-collar criminal defense lawyers about your legal options.  Call our lawyers today at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation.

By federal law, certain family and medical emergencies, as well as pregnancy all qualify for paid time off from an employer, with limited exceptions for all full time employees.  This mandates up to twelve weeks of vacation, yearly for those employed by large employers.

Other provisions include ensuring the employee is reinstated the same position after the leave period is over and that the employee will keep all employee benefits he/she had prior to the FMLA-allowed leave.

Employers may not threaten employees that seek to exercise their rights to medical and family leave under the federal law.  Fines as well as possible imprisonment will be assessed on violators, with considerations for the number of violations, “chilling effects” threats against employees for the legitimate use of their rights.

One should never assume they are exempt from the FLA provisions and many states will include their own provisions for eligible family members and reasons for seeking leave, such as organ donation and the death of service members on active duty.

It is important when mounting a legal defense to demonstrate a good faith attempt to adhere with federal law.  When facing investigation for violations of FMLA law, contact our New York white-collar crimes lawyers at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation.

Malware advertising involves delivering malicious programming through misleading Internet users into clicking on ads.  The program is delivered without the knowledge of the user and can be under the guise of useful or harmless cover programs.  Malvertising can be delivered through banner ads and spam email links.  The most effective Malvertising spoofs the advertising of legitimate companies to deliver the malware to the user’s PC.

The date gained form malware is typically used to commit wire fraud and other financial crimes.  Vandalism is also possible and although the penalties are generally less severe, the originators of these programs will be pursued with the same intensity as financial fraud matters.

FBI and state task forces on cybercrimes will work in tandem to track suspicious activity and track malware programs.  During the course of the investigation, records from the internet service provider are and the ISP http://nycfederaldefense.com/ even assist in the investigation.

Those involved in a Malvertising scheme can expect to pay restitution for any financial benefit gleaned from the destruction and disruption of computer systems.  All persons involved in the creation of the malware, regardless of their benefit from the scheme, will face criminal liability for their actions.

If you have been involved in a Malvertising scheme, you need an evaluation of your legal options.  For a free consultation, contact your New York criminal lawyers today at (212) 577-6677 for an immediate consultation.