Please See Below for Forwarding to FamilyReEntry.org and Prisonist.org. Thank You!

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Prisonist.org: Newsletter Jan. '16, White-Collar Ministry, Faith & Dignity for the Days Ahead

Prisonist.org: Faith & Dignity 
for the Days Ahead
Blogs, Guest Blogs & News


Prisonist.org  Newsletter Jan. '16
Faith & Dignity for the Days Ahead



Thank You For Your Donation To Our Ministry!
Donations Are Our Only Source of Revenue

Prisonist.org  Newsletter Jan. '16
Faith & Dignity for the Days Ahead 


Article: Our Ministry Featured in The Greenwich Sentinel  


A Worldly Fall, A Spiritual Ascent

This article appeared in the January 7, 2016 issue of the Greenwich Sentinel. We hope it offers faith and dignity to individuals and families with white-collar and nonviolent incarceration issues. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.
__________ 


"There's a transformation that goes on in every single person I've ever met that has gone through incarceration issues," Grant said. "Whether they recognize it or not, at some point it becomes clear to them that they are no longer the people that they had been. That's generally a good thing. These are life-altering experiences.."  To read the rest of this article, please click here.  

Radio Interview: We Talked White-Collar Crime with Babz Rawls Ivy on her radio show
We talked white-collar crime, reentry and redemption with our dear friend Babz Rawls Ivy on her talk show, LoveBabz LoveTalk, WNHH FM 103.5 New Haven, CT. Original air date, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. To listen to the archived show on SoundCloud, please click here. 
 



Article: Our Ministry Featured in "The Vision"

We are grateful to The New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church for the invitation to write an article for its monthly newspaper, The Vision.  This article appeared on page 8 of the December 15, 2015 issue, was published online and was distributed to all of its 450 churches in New York and Connecticut. 
 _________ 

White-Collar Ministry: A Riches-To-Rags-To-Redemption Story


"On Easter Sunday 2006, I reported to Allenwood Low Security Corrections Institution in White Deer, Pennsylvania. A guard came out and I showed him my court orders - he did not seem happy about my reporting on Easter Sunday. As we went through the metal door he spun me around, held my hands behind my back and slapped handcuffs on them. I had been anticipating this moment for over a year and not once did I consider that I would have to be handcuffed. At that moment I had my first inkling of how little I knew about surviving in prison." 
To read the rest of this article, please click   here. (page 8).  

Video: Our Main Stage
Presentation At The
Nantucket Project 

We are grateful to The Nantucket Project for its continuing support of our ministries. Click here to view Video of Jeff's Main-Stage Presentation. (17:27)



Guest Blog: Journey From Darkness to Light, By Melissa Tanis - Child of an Incarcerated Parent  


Melissa's first guest blog for us, Child of an Incarcerated Parent, (Jan. '15) chronicled her reunion with her father who was sentenced to 50 years in prison - it became our most-viewed blog ever! Below is her follow-up blog that brings us up-to-date on her incredible and heartwarming story.
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"...As I wrote in my last blog post, my dad had cancer and at the time and was in remission. But in March of this year I got a call from my dad like I normally do except this time, he told me his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs. The doctor said he had at best, two years to live. He has responded well to chemo but it will be an ongoing treatment and at different moments, he is very vulnerable to infection. If it's not the cancer that gets him, it could very well be a minor infection that his weakened immune system is not able to fight off. When I first found out about his cancer returning, everything seemed meaningless. What do we talk about now? How do we catch up on 20 years of not knowing each other in at best two years?" Click here to read the rest of Melissa's guest blog. 





Guest Blog: Financial Fraud: Top 13 Crimes,

by Brad Reid, Prof. of Law & Ethics
 

We've greatly admired Brad's articles for the Huffington Post, and asked him to guest blog for prisonist.org.
__________

"Many years ago I provided commercial banking legal representation to a bank president. One day, out of the blue, he asked me to backdate some documents. Thankfully, I declined. Some years after I entered the academic world, he and the bank's leadership team were convicted of federal fraud offenses. Additionally, the bank collapsed. A number of families were devastated. The president was an energetic businessman and doubtless never imagined this outcome to his career. What happened? My observation, at a distance, is that he was caught-up in the emotional high of great success and came to believe that cutting a few corners was okay because rapid growth would cover any issues. The "just this once" rationalization is a powerful seduction..."  Click here to read the rest of Brad's informative guest blog. 




Donations: Thank You For Your Support & Generosity!

We are grateful for all donations made to our ministries. Donations can be made by Credit Card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to:

"Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc." P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883.  We are a CT Religious Corp. with 501(c)(3) status - all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Blessings, Jeff & Lynn

Rev. Jeff Grant, Director & Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate 


Contact Information:  
If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.

Prisonist.org: Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.  
Mailing Address: 
P.O. Box 1232 
Weston, Connecticut 06883 
(o) 203-769-1096


Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div,
Minister/Director
Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
(m) 203-536-5508


George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats 
(m) 203-609-5088


Jim Gabal, Development 
(m) 203-858-2865


Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact 
(m) 203-645-9278



Faith & Dignity for the Days Ahead

Friday, January 8, 2016

A Worldly Fall, A Spiritual Ascent: The Jeff Grant Story, by Evan Triantafilidis, Reporter, Greenwich Sentinel

Prisonist.org: Faith & Dignity 
for the Days Ahead
Blogs, Guest Blogs & News








A Worldly Fall, A Spiritual Ascent:

The Jeff Grant Story

by
Reporter, Greenwich Sentinel

This article appears in the January 7, 2016 issue of the Greenwich Sentinel. We hope it offers faith and dignity to individuals and families with white-collar and nonviolent incarceration issues. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.
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IMG_8303
Jeff Grant and his wife Lynn Springer

When the Rev. Jeff Grant speaks at conferences like the Correctional Ministry Summit and the Greenwich Leadership Forum, he speaks as a pastor who spiritually guides and supports people who have lost their way—namely white-collar criminals, along with and their often-neglected families.

The darkest days of a persons life can still lead to hope and redemption, said Grant, co-founder and minister-director of the Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project, the first ministry of its kind in the country. It was founded in Greenwich and remains an outreach ministry of Christ Church (among other churches), though Grant now lives in Weston.
 
Grant speaks from personal experience, having spent 14 months in a federal prison for a financially motivated crime stemming from bad decisions made under the influence of prescription drugs.


Theres a transformation that goes on in every single person Ive ever met that has gone through incarceration issues,” Grant said. Whether they recognize it or not, at some point it becomes clear to them that they are no longer the people that they had been. Thats generally a good thing. These are life-altering experiences.


Grant was a corporate and real estate attorney practicing in a high-flying law firm in Westchester County. His fall from grace started innocently enough: He suffered a ruptured achilles tendon while playing sports in 1992, and was put on the prescription painkiller Demerol.


“In the course of the rehabilitating that injury, I got hooked on the prescription narcotics,” Grant said. “Doctors were more than happy to continue to prescribe them to me, and I took them for about 10 years. Over the course of that time, I was abusing the painkillers and my judgment became more and more impaired.”


Grant gradually began losing control of his firm—until the day arrived when he couldn’t meet payroll, and he made up the shortfall by dipping into client escrow funds.


His prescription drug abuse continued unabated for a decade. In July of 2002, Grant attempted suicide, taking an entire bottle of Demerol at once.


He woke up at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaanwhere, he says, “I started my new life.” 

Jeff Grant with his wife Lynn Springer (Photo by David Cluett)
Jeff Grant with his wife Lynn Springer (Photo by David Cluett)

I joined a recovery group in Greenwich, Grant said. We had been living in Rye before moving to Greenwich for around 10 years.


After 20 months of sobriety, Grant received a phone call saying there was a warrant out for his arrest having to do with a loan he’d been granted based on falsified paperwork filled out during his days of Demerol fog


Shortly after 9/11, Grant had taken out a low-interest loan of $247,000, claiming he had suffered economic injury at Wall Street office that he did not in fact have; he later pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. (He repaid the loan, penalties and all.)


On Easter Sunday 2006, after Grant had been sober for almost four years, he reported to Allenwood Low Security Corrections Institution in Pennsylvania, and served 14 months.


It was very frightening, Grant recalled. It was a harsh environment. The way I got through it was to focus on my mind, body and spirit.


Grant took more than 200 guitar lessons while in prison, sought out religious services, and ran on the track for three to four hours a day.


I walked 14,000 laps around the track, which is the equivalent of walking 3,500 miles. I was able to get myself out of my own head by being on the track for hours. It also gave me the opportunity to talk to the other inmates and learn what their issues were.
  

Along with losing 60 pounds in prison, Grant recalls there being one former lawyer (himself), two former doctors, and five former stockbrokers serving time behind bars. 


In 2012 Grant earned his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, with a focus on Christian Social Ethics.


Grant’s first job out of prison came in Bridgeport, where he was hired as a practicing minister and later was appointed associate pastor and director of prison ministry at the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport. His Bridgeport experience has given him the unusual distinction of working with both the inner city poor and the backcountry rich.


Also in 2012, Grant and his wife, Lynn Springer, founded the Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project to lend a guiding hand to people who have been accused of, convicted of, or incarcerated for crimes ranging from DUI arrests to financially motivated felonies; as the project’s name suggests, it also aids their families, a largely invisible class of victim.


In 2014, for the first time that anyone knows about, the project helped an innocent spouse recover assets of hers that had been frozen by the federal government. (Her husband had been a defendant in a white-collar crime case.)
IMG_8479
     Jeff Grant with his wife Lynn Springer
Springer, the project’s founding advocate, concentrates on working with the families. She says many of the people she works with are quite privileged, but adds that having a lot of money isnt the same as living a life of abundance."
 
We are first-hand examples of how something very, very dark and seemingly tragic has become something beautiful, hopeful, productive, and far better than the lives we had before, she said.


Springer wasnt married to Grant when he committed his crime, in 2001, but she remained with him when he was sentenced to serve time in prison. She describes the burden of prison on a family as confusing and life-changing, and recalled her own mistakes during the process.


Initially, people have a lot of questions, Springer said. Typically in the upper-middle class, where white collar criminals tend to come from, the husband has been the bread winner. Generally, these are people who are considered to be very well off. All of a sudden, all of their assets may have been seized by the SEC. They dont know how they are going to buy food, how they are going to heat their home, or how they are going to put gas in their car. These are the things that happen initially.


I think living in shame and lying are no way to go,” she continued. “I learned that because I didnt initially tell my daughter [Jeff’s stepdaughter] the truth about Jeffs crime and where he was when he went to prison. She ended up very disappointed in me for lying to her and for assuming that she couldnt handle the truth. Because of what I have learned from my daughter, I have learned what to say to other people. Children need to know the truth because children know when something is not right.


Springer now talks with families that are going through the same punishing legal and financial ordeals, offering immediate and practical solutions such as guiding them toward local food banks and Operation Fuel banks.


Grant, in addition to heading the Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouses & Children Project, is editor of Prisonist.Org, a blog site focusing on local, national and international criminal justice and incarceration issues.




He has made appearances and speeches at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Yale Divinity School, The Nantucket Project, and in churches throughout the Northeast. He serves on the boards of Community Partners in Action, Healing Communities Network, and the Creative Projects Group, and has been written about on the websites of New York and Forbes magazines.


“Most don’t believe that they are going to come out of this okay,” Grant said. “The fact that we dedicated our lives to faith and restoring dignity, we’re examples of these things to them and to the community. It brings them hope.”

Link to story on GreenwichSentinel.com

Comments from Social Media: 


In this article, Jeff Grant comes across as a person who tripped himself up badly and got into serious trouble. He suffered. He turned to his spiritual side. Then he turned his mistakes into courage, into lessons learned, into strength and recovery, and into much wisdom which he now shares with others. Like Jeff, many formerly incarcerated people have gained hard-earned courage, strength, and wisdom, and like Jeff, many have much to offer to the rest of us. Lets get to know them and to learn from them, too.



For whatever reasons someone goes prison , it is what they do after the experience that determines their path in life. You are correct to state that you are never the same. I too had a life of abundance & made a bad decision which landed me in prison for 2 years. I understand the transformation & adjustments necessary to rebuild your life. I have personally worked with you on projects & have found you to be a man of ethics & honesty. Your word is your bond & you follow through until the job is done. You represent to people reentering from prison the possibility of another chance at a successful life. I developed a program to teach inmates, released inmates & people with criminal backgrounds how to go into business for themselves. It is called the P.R.I.D.E. PROGRAM & this year we will have 4 sites. It has been possible to achieve this due to your guidance & help in opening doors for us. Thank you Jeff for a life well lived. You give us all hope again.

Nancy Mattox: "keep on blessing and being blessed." 

Christine (David): "Very inspiring!"

Tom Quinlan: "You're a good man doing wonderful things Jeff. "

Louisa Alger Watrous A moving testimony!

Grattan Kyle Jeff you are a daily inspiration to me .. I can only thank you from my heart ! 

Nick Yanicelli: A truly inspiring message. 

__________


Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
(o) 203-769-1096
(m) 203-339-5887
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In
Pinterest
Google+






Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouse & Children Project
lspringer@prisonist.org


(203) 536-5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
jgabal@prisonist.org
(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
mediababz@gmail.com
(203) 645-9278   
 


Donations
 
We are grateful for donations from individuals, religious groups, charities, foundations and the like. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to: “Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.” P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883. Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. We are a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status - all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support and generosity. 



  If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.








Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Financial Fraud: Top 13 Crimes, by Prof. Brad Reid - Guest Blogger


Prisonist.org: Faith & Dignity 
for the Days Ahead
Blogs, Guest Blogs & News 
  

Financial Fraud:
Top 13 Crimes
By Prof. Brad Reid - Guest Blogger

We've greatly admired Brad's articles 
for the  Huffington Post, and asked him to 
guest blog for prisonist.org.
__________


Violating a federal fraud statute easily becomes a personal and business disaster. 

Many years ago I provided commercial banking legal representation to a bank president. One day, out of the blue, he asked me to backdate some documents. Thankfully, I declined. Some years after I entered the academic world, he and the bank's leadership team were convicted of federal fraud offenses. Additionally, the bank collapsed. A number of families were devastated. The president was an energetic businessman and doubtless never imagined this outcome to his career. What happened? My observation, at a distance, is that he was caught-up in the emotional high of great success and came to believe that cutting a few corners was okay because rapid growth would cover any issues. The "just this once" rationalization is a powerful seduction.

Sometimes, individuals stumble into legal violations that may occur very rapidly, on the spur of the moment. See, for example, #12 on the list below. I think that we all need support systems and sources of affirmation that are not simply measured in dollars. When we know that we are valued and respected for simply being ourselves, it becomes easier to resist the temptations of illicit and illegal gratifications. Reciprocal love and concern is both a powerful preventive and provides powerful healing. Our networks of family and friends are priceless.

This blog provides a brief and incomplete educational overview of common federal fraud offenses. In the interest of brevity, specific punishments and/or civil penalties and potential private lawsuits for each offense are not discussed. Note that many contemporary statutes have anti-retaliation and whistleblower protection provisions, also not discussed. Many federal statutes have a state statutory equivalent. It does not violate double jeopardy for prosecutors to pursue both federal and state criminal offenses. Always consult an experienced attorney in specific personal and business situations.

1. Mail fraud and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1341, 1343) have become widely utilized and ever-adaptable general purpose federal offenses. As judicially interpreted, proof of mail fraud requires a scheme or artifice to defraud involving the mailing of a letter for the purpose of attempting or actually executing the scheme. Specific intent to defraud must be proven and the falsity must be material (influencing a reasonable person). "Mail" includes both public and private carriers, such as UPS or FedEx, and the item need not cross state lines (may be intrastate). The use of mail is broadly interpreted so, for example, the fraudulent use of an employer's credit card and resulting mailed statements satisfies the mail requirement. Every act of mailing is a separate offense. Additionally, it is a separate offense to use a fictitious name in schemes involving the Postal Service (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1342).

Wire fraud is closely related to mail fraud but includes virtually all media including radio, television, facsimile, telex, internet, and email.

2. Bank fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1344) involves attempting or executing a scheme to defraud a federally insured financial institution. This includes funds, securities, or any property owned by or in the custody of the institution. The institution need not suffer an actual loss. It is enough for the institution to be at risk of civil liability. Liability occurs in a broad array of situations involving, for example, check offenses, false statements on loan applications, credit card fraud, student loan fraud, ATM fraud, vehicle title fraud, mortgage fraud, fraudulent credit card receipts, and "shell" bank transactions.

3. Bankruptcy fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 157) requires proof of a scheme or attempt to defraud involving a petition, document, or any fraudulent representation in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding. A number of related offenses involve mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, perjury, and Sarbanes-Oxley offenses such as destroying, altering, or falsification of records.

4. Health care fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1344, 1347) requires proof of a scheme or attempt to defraud any health care benefit program (public or private). This includes the delivery or payment for services. Additionally, there is a separate statute (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320) involving making false statements to obtain payments from a federal health care program. Related offenses involve the federal False Claims Act and making false statements. The Stark Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395) provides a complex set of regulations generally prohibiting physician referrals to entities (such as rehabilitation centers) in which a physician or immediate family member has a financial interest.

5. Securities legislation (15 U.S.C. Sec 77a and related provisions) contains numerous antifraud provisions related to the purchase and sale of investments whose return to the investor is primarily dependent of the efforts of a third party. "Security" is a broad term, including Florida citrus groves in a famous 1946 Supreme Court case (S.E.C. v. W.J. Howey Co.). Trading on nonpublic "insider information" (information that will influence the price of a security) is one example of a commonly charged offense.

6. The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3729) is frequently applied to Medicare, Medicaid, and defense contractor fraud. The statute involves fines and civil penalties for knowingly making or conspiring to make false financial claims to the government. The original legislation was signed by President Lincoln to address fraudulent Union Army suppliers. "Knowingly" includes actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance, or reckless disregard for the truth. Each false statement on a bill may be a separate offense. Private individuals may sue on behalf of the federal government in a "qui tam" (short for a Latin phrase 'who as well as for the king as for himself sues') action and receive a reward. Corporate inside whistleblowers may act. Potential false claims include billing, false affirmative certifications of compliance with regulations or conditions, or claims that implicitly represent compliance with contract terms, regulations, or statutes. A "worthless services" standard involves providing services that are so deficient as to be the equivalent of no performance.

7. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 78dd-1) prohibits direct or indirect payments to foreign officials or governments to gain business advantages such as contracts. It broadly applies to U.S. companies, subsidiaries, and companies listed on stock exchanges, or that must file reports with the SEC. "Foreign" is also broadly defined and includes international charitable or regulatory organizations. Internal accounting controls are required as well as compliance programs. Lawful payments under foreign law and bona fide promotional expenses are allowed but narrowly interpreted. Companies are liable for actions by intermediaries. Certain facilitating or "grease" payments to minor foreign officials are allowed, but narrowly interpreted. Successor companies may be liable for the actions of a predecessor.

8. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 7201 and related provisions) contains eleven "Titles," each with sections, enacted in reaction to corporate scandals such as Enron. Only the broadest of overviews is possible in this brief comment. Private boards, accounting firms, and public agencies have additional responsibilities. It regulates auditor independence and mandates enhanced financial disclosures. Criminal penalties are imposed on the manipulation, destruction, or alteration of financial records or the interference with investigations. It also has whistleblower protections. Executives must certify the accuracy of a variety of financial statements and tax returns. In 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed (5:4) the conviction under a federal false record provision (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1519) of a commercial fisherman. The fisherman ordered a crew member to toss undersized fish overboard to prevent their detection by federal authorities (Yates v. U.S.). The application of Sarbanes-Oxley continues to unfold.

9. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. Sec 5301) was enacted in response to the Great Recession. It amends the regulatory structure and contains sixteen "Titles," each with sections. Only the broadest of overviews is possible in this brief comment. It is designed to achieve greater Wall Street transparency and accountability, investor protection, and mortgage reform. At intervals, executive compensation is subject to shareholder vote. A variety of financial derivatives regulations have been enacted or are pending before the SEC. A Constitutional challenge to Dodd-Frank is active in the federal court system. The unfolding of Dodd-Frank continues.

10. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1030) prohibits obtaining national security information, compromising computer confidentiality, accessing a computer to defraud, damaging transmissions or access, password trafficking, and extortion involving threats to damage a computer. Cell phones may be considered computers. The statute also allows a civil lawsuit for economic damages greater than $5,000 but some courts have not allowed recovery for lost personal contact information, photos, and text messages generally.

11. Immigration fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1546) involves the fraudulent use of immigration documents such as visas, border crossing cards, and permits. A variety of federal agencies have regulatory authority. Employers may find legal issues associated with undocumented workers, workers who have overstayed a valid visa, or applications for permanent alien labor certifications when the employer or industry generally has terminated or furloughed workers in a same or similar position within the past six months.

12. Making a material false statement to a federal official or a false record entry (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001), even if not in court or otherwise under oath, is a criminal offense. The contact might be with an investigator or very casual. One has the legal right to remain silent but not to lie. Anticipate that an investigator already knows the answer to the question being asked. This provision convicted Martha Stewart and appears in many situations where the prosecutor is unable to prove an underlying offense, such as securities fraud, that is the actual subject of the investigation. The U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark 1998 decision, Brogan v. U.S., said that one does not have the legal right to an "exculpatory no" (a false denial of guilt) under this provision.

13. Another, primary state issue, under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, involves fraudulent conveyances. While this may occur in the context of bankruptcy, the statutes are broad enough to encompass any activity designed to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor. The courts typically discuss "badges of fraud" that include ownership transfers to family members or insiders, inadequate consideration or lack of "reasonably equivalent value" (inadequate payment), continuing to use the item transferred, the existence or threat of litigation, becoming insolvent as a result of the transfer, secrecy, and the overall chronology and circumstances. The look-back period in which such transfers are invalidated depends upon the specific legislation and circumstances and may be as long as six years. Proving intent to defraud may be unnecessary and some cases consider gifts to charities. Leveraged buyouts, where a company borrows on its assets and purchases stock, may sometime be the subject of a fraudulent conveyance claim.

A common legal defense to a fraud statute involves the defendant's "good faith belief" that the asserted fraudulent representations were true. However, "scienter" (intent to deceive) is not always required to trigger liability. The statute of limitations (time in which to bring a case) for federal fraud statutes is frequently five years but may be ten years if a financial institution is involved. A "continuing offense" may expand this time period beyond the original commission of the unlawful conduct. Federal Courts of Appeal disagree as to whether the statute of limitations for mail and wire fraud begins on the date of the communication or the date of completion of the scheme.

This blog provides a brief and incomplete educational overview of a complex topic and is not intended to provide legal advice. Always consult experienced legal and financial professionals in specific situations.


Brad Reid is a Professor of Law and Ethics at Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tenn. Brad is a graduate of the University of Texas Law School. He worked for Exxon and was in the private practice of law before becoming an academic. He regularly produces both academic and popular audience articles concerning legal developments. Brad can be reached at brad.reid@lipscomb.edu.


__________

Progressive Prison Project/
Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
(o) 203-769-1096
(m) 203-339-5887
Twitter
Facebook
Linked In
Pinterest
Google+




Lynn Springer, Founding Advocate, Innocent Spouse & Children Project
lspringer@prisonist.org

(203) 536-5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
jgabal@prisonist.org
(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
mediababz@gmail.com
(203) 645-9278   
 

Donations
 
We are grateful for donations from individuals, religious groups, charities, foundations and the like. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to: “Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.” P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883. Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. We are a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status - all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support and generosity. 
 




  If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.