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18 U.S.C. § 892 makes it a federal crime to make or conspire to make an “extortionate extension of credit,” while 18 U.S.C. § 894 prohibits knowingly participating in extortionate means to collect a debt or punish nonpayment. These statutes can apply to private lending, high-yield financing, and ...

18 U.S.C. § 208 prohibits an officer or employee of the federal executive branch from participating personally and substantially in a particular government matter when the employee knows that the matter will have a direct and predictable effect on the employee's financial interest, or certain fin...

18 U.S.C. § 1027 makes it a federal crime to knowingly make a false statement or representation of fact, or knowingly conceal or fail to disclose required information, in documents required by Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The statute can apply to Form 55...

18 U.S.C. § 1071 makes it a federal crime to harbor or conceal a person for whom a warrant or other legal process has been issued, when the person providing the assistance knows about the warrant and acts to prevent the person's discovery and arrest. The statute is particularly significant for sp...

12 U.S.C. § 1818(j) makes it a federal crime for a person subject to an order under § 1818(e) or § 1818(g) to knowingly participate, directly or indirectly, in the affairs of a covered financial institution without prior written approval from the appropriate federal financial institutions regulat...

18 U.S.C. § 215 makes it a federal crime to corruptly give, offer, or promise something of value to influence or reward an officer, director, employee, agent, or attorney of a financial institution in connection with the institution's business. The statute also prohibits covered bank personnel fr...

18 U.S.C. § 541 is a federal felony statute that criminalizes the practice of knowingly entering imported goods at less than their true weight or measure, under a false classification regarding quality or value, or by paying less than the customs duty legally due. Federal agencies, including U.S...

18 U.S.C. § 549 is a federal felony statute enforcing border security and commercial supply chain integrity by criminalizing the unauthorized removal of cargo from customs custody, tampering with official customs seals, and malicious entry into bonded warehouses. U.S. Customs and Border Protectio...

Under 18 U.S.C. § 1511, it is a federal crime for two or more individuals to conspire to obstruct state or local law enforcement with the specific intent to facilitate an illegal gambling operation. Designed to target police corruption and political payoff schemes that allow vice rings to flouris...

18 U.S.C. § 2314 makes it a federal crime to transport, transmit, or transfer stolen, converted, or fraudulently obtained goods, merchandise, securities, or money worth $5,000 or more in interstate or foreign commerce while knowing the property was stolen, converted, or taken by fraud. The statut...

18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4) makes it a federal felony to knowingly access a protected computer without authorization, or exceed authorized access, with intent to defraud, when the access furthers the intended fraud and results in obtaining something of value. The statute can apply to employees, former...

18 U.S.C. § 1348 makes it a federal felony to knowingly execute or attempt to execute a scheme to defraud a person in connection with certain securities, or to obtain money or property through false or fraudulent pretenses in connection with covered securities. The statute carries a maximum penal...

A Klein conspiracy is a federal conspiracy to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, or defeating the lawful functions of the IRS through deceitful means. Under 18 U.S.C. § 371, prosecutors must prove an agreement, knowing participation, and an overt act. In an offshore investigatio...

18 U.S.C. § 2252A makes it a federal crime to knowingly receive, distribute, possess, or access with intent to view certain material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Federal investigations may begin with P2P network monitoring, an IP address, a cloud account, or another digital identi...

18 U.S.C. § 1111 governs federal murder within the "special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States," applying to homicides occurring on national parks, military bases, federal research campuses, and government facilities under 18 U.S.C. § 7. Because first-degree federal murder...

21 U.S.C. § 848, the federal continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) statute, makes it a crime to participate in a continuing series of federal drug felonies with five or more people while occupying an organizer, supervisory, or management position and obtaining substantial income or resources from ...

18 U.S.C. § 1956 is the primary federal money laundering statute. It prohibits conducting or attempting financial transactions involving proceeds of specified unlawful activity when the transaction is intended to conceal the source, ownership, location, or control of those funds or to promote add...

Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) fraud involves knowingly making false statements, concealing material information, or misrepresenting eligibility to obtain federal contracts reserved for qualifying businesses. Federal prosecutors frequently rely on 18 U.S.C. § 1001, which prohibits false ...

Using withheld payroll taxes to bridge a temporary cash shortfall is one of the fastest paths from a struggling business to a federal felony indictment. Under 26 U.S.C. § 7202, willfully failing to collect, account for, or pay over trust fund taxes carries criminal penalties, and federal prosecut...

John Park never inspected a rat-infested warehouse himself. He ran Acme Markets from a desk in Philadelphia, delegated food safety to subordinates, and still ended up a convicted federal criminal. The Supreme Court upheld his 1975 conviction anyway, and the doctrine that carries his name now reac...

Cross-border wealth concealment investigations often involve allegations that individuals used domestic or foreign business entities to hide assets, evade taxes, or conceal the true ownership of companies. Federal prosecutors frequently rely on 26 U.S.C. § 7201, which addresses tax evasion, toget...

Luxury woods, exotic flooring, specialty leather, and protected plant-based materials often move through multiple countries before reaching the United States. The federal Lacey Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 3371–3378, makes it a crime to import, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase certain fish, wi...

Aiding or assisting in the preparation of a false or fraudulent tax return is a federal crime under 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2). In recent years, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) and the Department of Justice have devoted substantial resources to investigating syndica...

Cellphone geofence warrants are court orders that require technology companies to disclose location information for every device found within a defined geographic area during a specified time. In 2026, the United States Supreme Court significantly expanded Fourth Amendment protections by holding ...

Before December 2018, a federal inmate could not ask a court for a shorter sentence. Only the Bureau of Prisons could bring that request, and it rarely did. The First Step Act rewrote 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) to let prisoners file their own motions. That single procedural change turned compassio...