You’ve been accused of fraud, which means you will benefit from hiring a professional fraud solicitor. They’re experienced in this particular aspect of the law and will work with you to build a defence case.
But what exactly will a fraud solicitor do in this situation? Today’s blog goes through some of the key strategies applied to defendants in scenarios such as this, so you understand how a solicitor builds your defence.
A solicitor’s first step is to understand the allegation in as much detail as possible. This helps them discover any nuances, and they’re particular focused on:
No two fraud cases are the same – it all depends on who is accusing you and the type of fraud you’re accused of. It can mean that the strategies implemented for one defendant are nowhere near the same as those used for another.
This step is therefore critical for the fraud solicitor to understand what they’re up against. The second point in this list is arguably the most vital: if they understand what the prosecution must prove against you, then they can start building a defence around that.
Fraud is only classified as “fraud” when there’s clear dishonest intent. You have committed fraud if you knowingly did things that went against certain rules or regulations to gain something beneficial.
Ultimately, that’s what the prosecution builds their case around: displaying that you were dishonest in your behaviour and knowingly did something fraudulent.
As a consequence of this, a fraud solicitor’s biggest strategy is to prove a lack of intent. They want to show the judge that you had absolutely no intention of committing fraud. Anything that happened was an honest mistake, and you’re guilty of negligence more than anything else. If they do this successfully, then you can’t be tried for fraud because you’ve technically not committed it.
How will they do this? It all depends on the case in question, though common tactics to dispel intent involve:
It’s all about creating this narrative that you’re not actually a fraudster. Everything you did was a mistake – but it was an honest mistake that never had the true intent behind it.
All fraud cases will involve some sort of interview between you (the accused) and either the police force or an investigative team. This is where the prosecution tries to gain as much information to use against you as possible – but fraud solicitors have a strategy to deal with this.
They provide advice before and during the interview process so you know:
The right approach to these interviews will mean the prosecution leaves with nothing. They gain very little information – and the information they do leave with doesn’t help in the slightest. Fraud solicitors are very adept at knowing the right ways to answer certain questions, and when to avoid answering altogether.
Sometimes, an interview can go so well for you that the case doesn’t even make it to court because there’s not enough evidence against you. On the flip side, entering an interview without a fraud solicitor will be a disaster. You’ll likely answer questions that could be avoided and say things that will absolutely be used against you in court.
The prosecution relies on evidence to prove that you’ve committed fraud. It’s often what the whole case centres around when it goes to court, so your fraud solicitor’s next big strategy is to challenge whatever the prosecution brings to the table.
How do they do this?
For starters, they look at how the evidence was obtained. If the prosecution got their hands on evidence without going through the necessary legal pathways, then your solicitor can motion for it to be redacted. They technically have no legal right to the evidence, which renders it useless in court proceedings.
If the prosecution did go through the right legal steps to find evidence, then your fraud solicitor would take a different tactic. They normally look at the evidence and go down one of two paths to question it’s relevancy:
By focusing on the evidence against you, a solicitor puts your case in the perfect place to prove that these charges aren’t viable. When the prosecution’s evidence falls flat, there’s not a lot else they can do to prove that you’re guilty of fraud.
Finally, there will be times when you absolutely are guilty of fraud. There’s nothing a solicitor can do to prove against this, in which case they adopt a new strategy: mitigation. This involves looking at your situation and finding any mitigating factors that could result in a shorter sentence or more lenient outcomes. It’s not ideal, but it’s the only strategy that works in pretty clear-cut fraud cases.
On that note, this guide should display how a fraud solicitor builds your defence and the strategies they utilise. If you’re in need of any legal help for a fraud case, please don’t hesitate to contact the fraud team at ABV Solicitors today.
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