Opinion ID: 441682
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Mail Fraud Statute

Text: 17 The defendants argue that under the terms of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1341, a single scheme to defraud constitutes a single violation of the statute regardless of the number of uses of the mail in furtherance of the scheme. Consequently, they contend that they could each be convicted and sentenced for only one offense because the Government sought to prove a single scheme to defraud in this case. 18 The defendants principally rely on cases that have interpreted different language in other statutes. See Bell v. United States, 349 U.S. 81, 75 S.Ct. 620, 99 L.Ed. 905 (1955) (Mann Act); United States v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp., 344 U.S. 218, 73 S.Ct. 227, 97 L.Ed. 260 (1952) (Fair Labor Standards Act). They acknowledge that they have found no case construing the mail fraud statute which has espoused their proposed interpretation. Indeed, courts for many years have consistently held that each mailing in furtherance of a scheme to defraud is a separate offense under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1341. See, e.g., United States v. Ledesma, 632 F.2d 670 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 998, 101 S.Ct. 539, 66 L.Ed.2d 296 (1980); Hanrahan v. United States, 348 F.2d 363 (D.C.Cir.1965), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 845, 88 S.Ct. 95, 19 L.Ed.2d 111 (1967); Milan v. United States, 322 F.2d 104 (5th Cir.1963), cert. denied, 377 U.S. 911, 84 S.Ct. 1174, 12 L.Ed.2d 181 (1964). See also Badders v. United States, 240 U.S. 391, 36 S.Ct. 367, 60 L.Ed. 706 (1916); Stumbo v. United States, 90 F.2d 828 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 302 U.S. 755, 58 S.Ct. 282, 82 L.Ed. 584 (1937). Use of the federal mails is not only a jurisdictional requirement, it is the gist of the crime of mail fraud. United States v. Weatherspoon, 581 F.2d 595, 601-02 (7th Cir.1978); Atkinson v. United States, 344 F.2d 97 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 382 U.S. 867, 86 S.Ct. 141, 15 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965). Each use of the mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud therefore may be separately and cumulatively punished. In this case, the defendants' convictions and sentences were within the terms of the statute.