Fraud is intentional deception causing harm to a victim. Statutes of limitations vary by region and type of crime, preventing prosecution after a specified period. The discovery rule allows for delayed discovery, but exceptions exist, and some crimes have upper limits on prosecution time.
Fraud is the intentional deception of a third party resulting in some form of harm to the victim. There are many forms of fraud, including mail, wire, securities, real estate, and credit card fraud. The statute of limitations for fraud depends on the crime, the region, and sometimes when the crime was discovered.
A statute of limitations for any crime is a common law measure that prevents the prosecution of certain crimes after a specified period of time. This helps ensure that plaintiffs do not file a complaint simply out of spite or for other reasons, even if they have lived with the crime for many years. It also protects evidence from loss, contamination or decay that could materially affect the outcome of a process. Some legal experts also argue that, for petty crimes, punishing a person for what he did 20 years ago could be a meaningless use of the justice system.
The statute of limitations for fraud varies by region and sometimes by the type of crime. In most U.S. states, fraud proceedings are limited to between one and five years after the crime occurs, and the limits are similar in other common law countries. Fraud can be charged regionally or nationally, depending on the type of crime. Mail fraud, for example, is considered a federal crime in the United States and is prosecuted in the federal judicial system.
One problem that can alter the prescription is the application of the discovery rule. This is a special rule which provides for the possibility that a crime will not be discovered at the very moment it is committed. If, for example, a person was the victim of a fraudulent accountant but did not realize the fraud had occurred until four years later, he or she may not be able to file a legal claim if the statute of limitations has expired. . The discovery rule allows statute of limitations to begin at the time of discovery, rather than at the time of the crime.
There are some exceptions to the discovery rule that prevent gross negligence on the part of the plaintiff from allowing prosecution. Some jurisdictions provide for an upper limit on the statute of limitations for fraud, even with the application of the rule of discovery. Securities fraud in the United States, for example, has a two-year statute of limitations, or up to five years if the discovery rule is applied. If the crime is discovered after five years, it would no longer be prosecutable.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
