NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
What is federal mail fraud?
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek – with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal criminal cases. We’ve represented clients in cases that captured national attention, the Anna Delvey case that became a Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, cases involving high-profile defendants like those connected to Alec Baldwin. If you’re facing mail fraud charges, you’re looking at serious federal prison time – and you need attorneys who’ve handled these cases before.
Mail fraud is one of the most common federal charges prosecutors use. It’s their go-to tool for prosecuting white-collar crime, organized fraud schemes, COVID relief fraud, investment scams, insurance fraud – basically any scheme where someone used the mail to further a fraud. According to DOJ guidelines, the charge is deceptively simple but extremely broad in application.
What the Government Has to Prove
Federal mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1341 has two elements. That’s it – just two things prosecutors need to show. First, you devised or intended to devise a scheme to defraud someone of money or property. Second, you used the mail to execute that scheme or attempt to execute it.
Sounds straightforward. It’s not.
The “scheme to defraud” element is where federal prosecutors have enormous flexibility. They don’t need to prove you succeeded in defrauding anyone, they don’t need to show anyone actually lost money. Intent to defraud is enough. You sent out fake invoices that nobody paid? Mail fraud. You mailed fraudulent loan applications that got denied? Still mail fraud. The scheme itself is the crime – whether it worked is irrelevant.
Prosecutors must prove you intended to deceive someone for financial or material gain through a material misrepresentation. “Material” means the lie was significant enough to influence someone’s decision-making. In Neder v. United States, the Supreme Court confirmed materiality is an implicit element – but in practice, judges and juries give prosecutors wide latitude on what counts as “material.”
What Counts as “Using the Mail”
This is broader than you think. Most people assume mail fraud means you personally mailed something fraudulent through USPS. Wrong.
First, “mail” includes private commercial carriers – FedEx, UPS, DHL, any interstate delivery service. It also includes email in many circuits, though wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343) is typically charged for electronic communications.
Second, you don’t have to be the one who sent the mail. If your fraud scheme causes someone else to use the mail – even an innocent third party – that’s enough. You run a fake charity, a donor mails you a check, that donor just gave prosecutors their mail fraud evidence. You don’t need to touch the envelope.
This is how prosecutors cast such a wide net. In a typical investment fraud case, every statement mailed to investors, every check deposited, every contract sent – each one is a separate count of mail fraud. A single fraud scheme can generate dozens or hundreds of individual mail fraud counts because each use of the mail is a separate federal offense.
The Penalties You’re Actually Facing
Standard mail fraud carries up to 20 years in federal prison. That’s per count. Federal judges can stack sentences, you could be looking at decades if prosecutors charge multiple counts.
If the fraud affected a financial institution or involved a federally declared disaster, the penalties jump to 30 years in prison and fines up to $1,000,000. After the COVID pandemic, we saw disaster-related mail fraud prosecutions skyrocket – fake PPP loan applications, fraudulent pandemic relief schemes. In June 2025, federal prosecutors indicted four defendants in what the FBI called the nation’s largest known COVID tax credit fraud scheme, with each mail fraud count carrying that 20-year maximum.
Federal sentencing for mail fraud depends on the amount of loss involved. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, intended loss drives your offense level – and your offense level determines your prison time. A fraud involving $250,000 to $550,000 in intended loss adds 12 levels to your base offense level. Over $550,000? You’re looking at even steeper increases. Your criminal history matters too, but the dollar amount is often the biggest factor.
The government will calculate “intended loss” – not actual loss. Even if your scheme fell apart before anyone paid you a dime, prosecutors will argue you intended to defraud victims of $X million, and that intended loss number will drive your guideline range into years or decades of federal prison.
Why Prosecutors Love This Charge
Mail fraud is the federal government’s Swiss Army knife for white-collar prosecutions. Courts have interpreted it so broadly that it reaches almost any fraudulent scheme with even a tangential connection to the mail.
Prosecutors use mail fraud when they can’t prove more specific offenses. Can’t quite prove securities fraud? Charge mail fraud. Tax evasion falls apart? Mail fraud. Bank fraud requires showing the defendant endangered a financial institution – mail fraud just requires showing they used the mail in furtherance of any fraud.
The statute of limitations is typically five years. Prosecutors also routinely charge conspiracy to commit mail fraud (18 U.S.C. § 371) alongside the substantive offense, which requires even less proof – just an agreement to commit mail fraud and one overt act in furtherance.
What Happens in Your Case
If you’re under investigation for mail fraud or already indicted, the government has likely been building this case for months or years. Federal prosecutors don’t charge mail fraud on a whim – by the time you know you’re a target, they’ve usually interviewed witnesses, subpoenaed bank records, obtained emails and documents, traced financial transactions.
At Spodek Law Group, we’ve defended clients in complex mail fraud cases involving millions of dollars in alleged losses. Former federal prosecutors on our team understand how the government builds these cases, what evidence they prioritize, what defenses actually work in front of a jury.
Some mail fraud cases can be resolved through negotiation – getting counts dismissed, reducing intended loss calculations, arguing for departures or variances at sentencing. Others need to go to trial. The government’s burden is proving intent beyond a reasonable doubt, and in many cases, we can show the defendant made honest mistakes, relied on bad advice, or never intended to defraud anyone.
But you need to act now. Once the investigation starts, anything you say to federal agents can – and will – be used to prove the “intent to defraud” element. People think they can explain away the misunderstanding, clear things up, cooperate their way out of charges. That almost never works. Federal agents are building a case against you, not trying to help you.
We’re available 24/7 to discuss your case, walk through what the government likely has, and map out a defense strategy. Mail fraud cases are complicated – many, many moving parts, hundreds of documents, complex financial transactions – but we’ve handled cases others said were unwinnable. That’s what Spodek Law Group does.
If you’ve been contacted by federal investigators about mail fraud, or if you’ve already been indicted, call us immediately. The decisions you make right now will determine whether you spend the next decade in federal prison or walk away with your freedom intact.