What to Do if You have Done Fraud at Work?

With the increased easy at which we can communicate via the internet, the ease at which individuals have been able to commit fraud has also increased. Fraud offences have become more and more common, with online and phone phishing schemes popping up across the country. Law enforcement agencies have been forced to change the way they police fraud online to keep up with new schemes.

What are the Common Types of Disclosure in Fraud Cases?

Disclosure is the process by which the Crown shares all the information that may be used to secure a conviction for an offence with the accused. Pieces of information that are common to all types of offences include: the accused’s criminal background check, the statement of the main victim or person that brought the issue to the attention of the police, any statements made by the victims of the offence, and, if any, statements of other witnesses to the offence.

Elements of disclosure that are specific to fraud depend on the facts of the case and the type of fraud committed. In certain cases, relevant bank records can be part of disclosure as can business-related documents. If the accused conducted a mortgage or wire fraud, there will be documentary evidence of a fraudulent mortgage or records of fraudulent funds transfers. It might also be possible that security footage may be provided as disclosure if it proves an accused attempted to cash a fraudulent cheque at a bank. If the victim of fraud is a person’s employer, the accused’s employment records may also be relevant disclosure material. This is a non-exhaustive list of examples, and a disclosure package may include only some of this information or more as the case merits.

Over the last decade, Donich Law has represented clients charged with a wide array of fraud offences including fraud over $5,000, fraud under $5,000 and related offences including identity theft, utter forged documents, and possession of property obtained by crime. Often, those caught participating in a fraud scheme will be charged with more than one offence. This makes resolving the matter without a criminal record more difficult.

How Long Does It Take to Receive Disclosure?

Receiving disclosure can take up to several months depending on the complexity of a case. The process of collecting disclosure begins at the police station when the accused is arrested. After the arrest the police begin a case file and bring together all the evidence against a person that concerns the offence they have committed. All the information mentioned above, and more may go into that file. The information may be the result of a police investigation leading to arrest or one conducted after the fact. Completion of a file typically takes around four weeks; at which time it is sent to the office of the Crown.

Once the Crown has the file, they begin a two-step procedure. First, they vet the file. Vetting involves the Crown reviewing all the available evidence and making sure there is no contact, personal, or other sensitive information of victims or third parties that may be given to the accused. After a file has been completely vetted, next the Crown begins a screening process. Screening involves the Crown deciding what their position would be regarding the appropriate sentence for the accused if a guilty plea was entered immediately. Once that process is complete, the disclosure package is made available to the accused.

Sophisticated fraud schemes are typically viewed as more morally blameworthy than simple theft or fraud. Where the accused commits fraud in the context of an employment relationship, the courts take an even stronger stance on sentencing. Under Canadian law, any time an individual abuses a position of trust or authority to commit a crime, they will be punished more severely. This is because abusing a position of trust to commit fraud or some other offence carries a higher degree of moral blameworthiness. The Firm has experience defending a wide array of offences, from the lowest of moral blameworthiness, to the highest.

How Does Someone Get Their Disclosure?

Receiving a disclosure package is not an automatic process. An accused or their lawyer must acquire it themselves around the time of that person’s first or second court appearance, and there are many ways to do that. First, a person may acquire it in person by visiting the Crown office at a courthouse. The rules for obtaining a disclosure package are specific to each courthouse, so the process will be different in each jurisdiction. Physical copies of disclosure packages are often lengthy documents that are usually between 50-100 pages long.

Electronic copies of disclosure packages can also be obtained. A request for an electronic copy must be made by the accused’s lawyer by sending a message to specific emails run by the Crown. Once the request is received and processed, the accused or their lawyer will get the disclosure package once it has been uploaded to the Ontario Disclosure Hub database.

What if Someone was Tricked into Committing Fraud by Someone Else?

The offence of fraud covered by s. 380(1) of the Criminal Code requires a person to know that the act they are committing is fraudulent in order to be convicted of an offence. This requirement means that a person involved in another person’s fraudulent scheme must know or have the equivalent of knowledge that the scheme takes a valuable good from a victim based on some deceit or falsehood. Knowledge or equivalent of knowledge refers to actually knowing something or the fact that someone should know something.

To establish the equivalent of knowledge, the Crown can either prove that the accused behaved recklessly and failed to take obvious steps to determine if they were involved in a fraud. It might also be that an accused was willfully blind to the situation. Willful blindness can be established where an accused person has some suspicion or real indication that they are involved in criminal behaviour but decide not to take the steps to confirm those suspicions and remain purposefully ignorant. In practice, if a person is employed in what is presented as a legitimate business that is engaged in fraud and is asked to perform tasks that contribute to the fraud, they will not be criminally liable if there is no way they could have known the true nature of the activity they participated in.