Criminal Defense Lawyers

Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Mail Fraud

Mail fraud is the godfather of federal fraud prosecutions. Enacted in 1872 – before telephones, before the internet, before wire transfers existed – this statute remains one of the most powerful weapons in a federal prosecutor’s arsenal. The crime was originally designed to protect rural Americans from “city slickers” running scams through the postal system. Over 150 years later, that same statute is used to prosecute Ponzi schemes, corporate fraud, and everything in between. Charles Ponzi himself was charged under this law. So was Bernie Madoff. So was Felicity Huffman. If you’re facing mail fraud charges in 2025, you’re being prosecuted under essentially the same framework that sent con artists to prison before the light bulb was invented.

Here’s what makes mail fraud so dangerous: you don’t have to mail anything. You don’t have to successfully defraud anyone. You don’t even need to have a victim who lost money. All you need is a scheme to defraud and some use of the mails – even if that mailing was routine, even if someone else sent it, even if it had nothing to do with the deceptive part of your plan. The statute reaches further than almost anyone realizes, and prosecutors know exactly how to use it to maximize pressure.

The maximum sentence for mail fraud is 20 years in federal prison per count. If your scheme affected a financial institution, that jumps to 30 years per count. Send ten letters in furtherance of a fraud scheme? That’s ten counts. Ten counts times 20 years equals 200 years of theoretical exposure. Nobody gets 200 years for mailing letters, but that’s not the point. The point is leverage. The point is making the math so terrifying that fighting the charges becomes unthinkable. That’s how federal fraud prosecution actually works.

America’s Oldest Fraud Statute Still Destroys Lives in 2025

Heres something most people dont realize. The mail fraud statute is the original federal auxiliary crime – meaning its the first law Congress created to federalize conduct that would otherwise be prosecuted by states. Before 1872, swindling people was a state crime. You cheated someone in Ohio, Ohio prosecuted you. But Congress decided that using the federal postal system to commit fraud was different. It was an abuse of a federal institution, and it deserved federal punishment.

The statute emerged from a specific problem. After the Civil War, scam artists discovered they could use the mail to reach victims across the country. They would send letters promising lottery winnings, fake investment returns, or products that didnt exist. Rural Americans – the “country folks” of that era – were particularly vulnerable becuase they had no way to verify claims made by strangers in distant cities. The mail fraud statute was Congress’s response.

What nobody anticipated was how useful this statute would become. Federal prosecutors realized that almost any fraud scheme involves the mail somewhere. Send a contract? Mail fraud. Invoice for fake services? Mail fraud. Forward a document that supports a fraudulent claim? Mail fraud. The statute dosent require the mailing itself to be fraudulent. It just requires that some mailing occurred “in furtherance” of the scheme. Thats an incredibly low bar.

By the time wire fraud was enacted in 1952, mail fraud had already become the template. Wire fraud is basicly mail fraud for electronic communications – same elements, same structure, same devastating penalties. But mail fraud came first. Its the original. And its still being used to prosecute crimes that the 1872 Congress could never of imagined.

You Don’t Have to Mail Anything to Commit Mail Fraud

OK so heres were this statute gets truly dangerous. You dont actualy have to mail anything yourself to be convicted of mail fraud. Under the statute, its a crime to “cause” the mails to be used in furtherance of a scheme to defraud. And courts have interpreted “cause” extremely broadly.

The landmark case is Schmuck v. United States from 1989. Schmuck was a used car dealer who rolled back odometers and sold the cars to other dealers. Those dealers then mailed in title applications. Schmuck argued he shouldnt be convicted of mail fraud becuase he never mailed anything – the other dealers did. The Supreme Court disagreed. The mailings were “in furtherance” of his scheme becuase they were a routine part of how the fraudulent transactions were completed. He caused the mailings even though he never touched an envelope.

Think about what this means. If your scheme involves any business relationship were people mail things – contracts, invoices, checks, applications, anything – you can be charged with mail fraud for those mailings. You dont have to send them. You dont have to know they were sent. You just have to have set the scheme in motion knowing that mailings would ordinarily follow.

This is why mail fraud is called “the prosecutor’s best friend.” The elements are easy to prove:

• Scheme to defraud? Prosecutors characterize almost any deceptive business practice as a scheme.
• Use of the mails? In the modern economy, something almost always gets mailed somewhere.
• Intent? If you were being deceptive, prosecutors argue you intended the consequences.

Three simple elements, 20 years per count.

Why Prosecutors Call Mail Fraud Their Best Friend

Heres the thing about mail fraud that defense attorneys know and defendants usualy dont: prosecutors use this statute when they cant prove more specific crimes. Securities fraud too complicated? Charge mail fraud. Healthcare fraud elements not quite there? Charge mail fraud. Bribery case falling apart? If anything was mailed, charge mail fraud.

The Justice Department’s own manual acknowledges this. Federal prosecutors are instructed that mail fraud prosecutions “ordinarily should not be undertaken if the scheme employed consists of some isolated transactions between individuals, involving minor loss to the victims.” But serious consideration should be given to prosecuting “any scheme which in its nature is directed to defrauding a class of persons, or the general public, with a substantial pattern of conduct.”

What that means in practice is that prosecutors have enormous discretion. They decide wheather your conduct rises to the level of federal prosecution. And once they decide to charge, mail fraud gives them flexibility that more specific statutes dont provide.

Heres an uncomfortable truth: you dont need a victim to be convicted. Prosecutors dont have to prove anyone was actualy defrauded. They dont have to identify specific monetary losses. They dont have to show that the scheme succeeded. The intent to defraud and the use of the mails is enough. You can have a bad plan that dosent work, fool nobody, cost nobody a dime, and still be convicted of federal mail fraud.

The conviction rate reflects this reality. Wire fraud prosecutions – which are nearly identical in structure to mail fraud – result in conviction aproximately 88% of the time. Federal prosecutors dont bring cases they cant win. If your charged with mail fraud, theyve already calculated that conviction is likely.

The Math That Turns One Letter Into 20 Years

Let me walk you threw how federal sentencing actualy works for mail fraud, becuase this is were most defendants get blindsided.

Every count of mail fraud starts with a base offense level of 7 under the federal sentencing guidelines. Thats were everyone begins. But then the enhancements pile on. The most important enhancement is loss amount – how much money victims lost or how much you intended them to lose.

Loss enhancements under Section 2B1.1 work like this:

• More then $6,500 adds 2 levels
• More then $15,000 adds 4 levels
• More then $40,000 adds 6 levels
• More then $95,000 adds 8 levels
• And it keeps going up to losses exceeding $550 million, which adds 30 levels

A base of 7 plus loss enhancements can easily push you into offense levels were your looking at years, not months. Add enhancements for sophisticated means, abuse of trust, number of victims, or leadership role, and the math becomes devastating.

But heres the kicker. Each mailing is a seperate count. If you mailed 10 fraudulent solicitations, thats potentially 10 counts. If you caused 50 mailings as part of your scheme, thats 50 counts. While judges typicaly group related counts together under the guidelines, prosecutors use count multiplication as leverage. The threat of 50 counts – each carrying 20 years – creates overwhelming pressure to plead guilty.

The federal sentencing table translates offense level and criminal history into a guidelines range:

• At offense level 25 with no criminal history, your looking at 57-71 months
• At offense level 30, its 97-121 months
• At offense level 35, its 168-210 months

Every enhancement matters. Every level adds months or years.

How Bernie Madoff Got 150 Years Under This Statute

Bernie Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history – an estimated $65 billion fraud that wiped out retirement savings, destroyed charities, and ruined lives. In March 2009, he pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, including securities fraud, money laundering, and – critically – both mail fraud and wire fraud.

The judge sentenced him to 150 years in federal prison. The maximum sentence possible. Madoff died in prison in 2021, having served 12 years of that sentence.

Heres what’s instructive about the Madoff case. He wasnt just charged with securities fraud, even though thats what his scheme fundamentaly was. He was charged with mail fraud becuase every statement he mailed to investors was a mailing in furtherance of the scheme. He was charged with wire fraud becuase every electronic transfer, every wire transaction, every email was a wire communication in furtherance of the scheme.

Prosecutors stacked the statutes. Securities fraud plus mail fraud plus wire fraud plus money laundering plus making false statements. Each statute adds counts. Each count adds exposure. The multiplication effect is intentional. It ensures that even if a defendant beats some charges, others remain. And it maximizes plea leverage for defendants who cant afford to fight.

Charles Ponzi himself – the man whose name became synonymous with investment fraud – was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud in the 1920s. The statute that would eventualy send Bernie Madoff to prison for 150 years was the same statute used to prosecute the original Ponzi schemer nearly a century earlier.

Mail Fraud vs. Wire Fraud – Why Prosecutors Charge Both

Lori Laughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were charged with both mail fraud AND wire fraud in the college admissions scandal. They allegedly emailed doctored photos of there daughters rowing (wire fraud) and used the mail system to submit fraudulent application materials (mail fraud). Prosecutors could of charged either statute alone. They charged both.

This is standard practice. Whenever possible, prosecutors add wire fraud charges to mail fraud charges – and vice versa. The reasons are strategic:

First, wire fraud technicaly carries higher potential penalties. While both statutes cap at 20 years per count normally, wire fraud involving financial institutions can reach 30 years. That additional 10 years creates leverage.

Second, charging both statutes covers more conduct. Wire fraud requires interstate electronic transmission. Mail fraud dosent – it can reach purely intrastate mailings becuase it’s based on Congress’s Postal Clause power, not the Commerce Clause. By charging both, prosecutors ensure that any communication method you used is covered.

Third, its insurance. If a jury acquits on mail fraud counts but convicts on wire fraud counts (or vice versa), the prosecution still gets a conviction. Multiple statutes mean multiple chances.

The result is that defendants facing serious fraud allegations almost never see just one statute charged. They see mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and whatever specific fraud statute applies to there industry (securities fraud, healthcare fraud, bank fraud). The multiplication is deliberate.

The Loss Calculation That Determines Your Sentence

Your mail fraud sentence isnt determined by how many letters you mailed. Its determined by the loss amount calculated under the sentencing guidelines – and loss dosent mean what you think it means.

Under Section 2B1.1, “loss” is the greater of actual loss or intended loss. Actual loss is the reasonably foreseeable harm that resulted from your offense. Intended loss is the harm you purposely sought to inflict – including harm that was impossible or unlikely to occur.

Read that again. You can be sentenced based on intended loss even if your scheme never could of worked. If prosecutors can show you intended to take $1 million, you can be sentenced as if $1 million was lost, even if nobody lost anything.

Loss calculations are also incredibly technical. Prosecutors will argue for the highest possible number. Your attorney will argue for the lowest. The fight over loss amount is often the most consequential part of a mail fraud case becuase it directly determines your guidelines range.

Consider this example:

• Base offense level 7
• Your charged with a scheme involving $400,000 in actual losses
• Thats a +14 level enhancement for loss amount
• Your now at offense level 21
• Add sophisticated means (+2), and your at 23
• Add abuse of a position of trust (+2), and your at 25
• Criminal History Category I at offense level 25 gives a guidelines range of 57-71 months

Thats almost 5-6 years in federal prison.

Now imagine the same conduct but prosecutors calculate intended loss at $2 million instead of actual loss at $400,000. The loss enhancement jumps from +14 to +18. Your offense level goes from 25 to 29. Guidelines range: 87-108 months. Thats 7-9 years. A different loss calculation just added 2-3 years to your sentence.

Three Defenses That Actualy Work in Mail Fraud Cases

After everything weve covered, here are the defenses that actualy have traction in mail fraud prosecutions.

Good faith belief. If you genuinly believed your statements were true – if you werent intentionaly deceiving anyone – thats a complete defense. The problem is proving it. Prosecutors will argue your protestations of innocence are self-serving. But if you have contemporaneous documentation showing you believed what you were saying, good faith can win acquittals.

No scheme to defraud. The government has to prove you had a scheme – a plan to deceive people for financial gain. If your conduct was aggressive but honest, if you didnt misrepresent material facts, if the “fraud” was actualy a business dispute, you can argue there was no scheme. This is harder then it sounds becuase prosecutors frame almost any deceptive practice as a scheme.

The mailings werent “in furtherance.” Even if you had a scheme, the mailings have to be connected to it. If the mailings were genuinly unrelated to the fraudulent aspects of your conduct, you can argue they dont satisfy the statute. The Schmuck case makes this defense difficult, but its not impossible if the mailings were truly peripheral.

What dosent work: arguing you didnt know mail fraud was a crime, arguing the victims deserved it, arguing other people did worse things. These arent defenses. They’re arguments that make judges and juries less sympathetic.

What To Do If Your Facing Mail Fraud Charges

If your under investigation for mail fraud or have already been charged, heres what you need to know immediatly.

Stop talking. Everything you say to federal agents can and will be used against you. The FBI is allowed to lie to you about the evidence they have. If you make a false statement to a federal agent – even if your not under oath – thats a seperate federal crime under 18 USC 1001. Defendants who try to talk there way out of investigations usualy talk there way into additional charges.

Get a federal criminal defense attorney. Not tomorrow. Not after you “figure things out.” Now. Pre-indictment intervention can sometimes prevent charges. Post-indictment, your options narrow dramaticaly. An experienced federal defense attorney understands how loss calculations work, how to challenge the scope of “mailings in furtherance,” and how to negotiate with federal prosecutors.

Understand the math. Have your attorney calculate your likely guidelines range under different scenarios. What if you plead? What if you go to trial? What loss amount will prosecutors seek? What enhancements might apply? You cant make informed decisions without understanding the numbers that will determine your sentence.

Dont destroy evidence. Obstruction of justice adds levels to your offense. More importantly, it destroys any credibility you might of had with prosecutors and judges. The coverup is almost always worse then the crime in federal court.

The mail fraud statute has been destroying lives for 150 years. Its not going anywhere. If your facing charges under this law, the system is designed to pressure you into pleading guilty. Understanding how that pressure works is the first step toward fighting back.