Government fraud cases and offenses can be incredibly difficult to navigate. In order to prove their case against someone, the Maryland government will use exhaustive resources to pull up information about that person’s financial, personal, and professional lives. Speaking to and retaining a Maryland government fraud lawyer means that you will have someone knowledgeable by your side throughout the process. He or she will answer any questions or concerns you might have about the proceedings and will work towards a positive outcome in your case.
What Needs To Be Proven
For government fraud offenses, the government needs to prove specific intent to defraud, and specific intent can be proven directly or circumstantially. For example, if the government uncovers an email where someone says specifically what they intend to do or there’s a wiretapped conversation, or if the person is interviewed and confesses to a government agent. Those are some of the common ways to prove specific intent.
The government may also attempt to prove intent in a fraud case circumstantially (in other words, the circumstances surrounding a certain offense indicates specific intent). The government can try to do that in a variety of ways, for example:
- By showing the complexity of what they believe to be the fraud
- By showing it to be a transaction with particularly means employed
- By showing an attempt to hide or cover up evidence of the alleged offense
The government can try and use all of this and more as potential evidence in order to demonstrate a specific intent to defraud on the part of the defendant.
Evidence Maryland Government Uses To Prove Fraud
In government fraud cases, paper evidence is typically used attempt to make the government’s case. In other words, the government is going to be looking at financial records.
If the charge in question is Medicaid fraud, for example, the government will be looking at medical records, billing records, coding records, and any other information that pertaining to what a doctor or healthcare provider bills. When a doctor’s office treats patients whose services or procedures end up getting covered by Medicaid, they have to code those transactions. There could be issues there, and the government will want to identify any inconsistencies or patterns that may indicate that fraud is being committed. Email and other communications are often analyzed.
In addition, the government has recently been deploying wire taps other electronic intercepts and using cooperative witnesses in white collar cases, especially government fraud cases.
How Government Collects Evidence
The government can collect documents and other evidence in a fraud investigation in a number of ways. If there is a grand jury investigation open, they can get a subpoena for certain records. Law enforcement agents can apply for a search warrant at a certain point in the investigation that will enable them to go into someone’s office or place of business, seize records, computers, and hard drives, which they will then analyze to try and show any fraud that took place.
Agencies Involved in Collecting Evidence
When it comes to federal fraud investigations, there is often more than one agency that’s involved. In a contract procurement fraud case, sometimes the Department of Labor will be involved. Sometimes, the Office of the Inspector General for a specific agency might be involved. You have the Small Business Administration, the FBI. If there are tax implications, the IRS may get involved. Because fraud conducted against the federal government can potentially affect a great many taxpayer-funded programs, the agencies that investigate these cases can be as diverse as the programs that are at risk for fraud.
