Virginia Fraud Penalties

The most common fraud penalties in Virginia are those associated with felony offenses. Fraud usually involves things like restitution, so making the victim whole by them paying money or having to do something else, otherwise, if it is a felony, the person will have consequences like penalties including jail time or including prison time depending on what type of felony it is charged as.

Certainly, every case is going to be different but people can usually count on restitution and time in jail, at least for felonies and potentially for misdemeanors as well even if it is a person’s defense. A knowledgeable fraud attorney can further explain the potential fraud penalties an individual may face.

Likelihood of Plea Deals for Fraud

It is difficult to determine whether a person is capable of getting a plea deal for fraud unless an attorney actually examines their case. There are no specific types of fraud cases that are more likely to lead to plea deals than others. The only thing that an individual can do is evaluate each case on its merits and then go ahead and decide from there.

Range of Potential Penalties

The range of fraud penalties in Virginia depends on whether a person’s charge is a misdemeanor or a felony. If a person is charged with a misdemeanor then they can face the maximum of up to 12 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine, that is the highest level of misdemeanor that a person can do plus restitution, whatever that could be.

If the person is charged with more than a misdemeanor, then they could face pretty much anything. A person could face up to 12 months in jail, the jury decides that instead of prison time depending on what it is charged with or how many victims did the individual had, for example.

An individual might have mandatory minimum time in prison. The person is almost always going to face restitution and a fraud charge because there is almost always some type of victim who had a financial loss because that is part of the elements that they often have to prove.

Immediate Consequences of a Fraud Conviction

The immediate consequences of a fraud conviction are whatever the person gets as a sentence. The fraud penalties in Virginia that a person could face, vary depending on the severity of the offense.

Misdemeanor Offenses

For example in a misdemeanor offense, a person could have up to 12 months in jail and they could have up to $2,500 fine and they might have to pay restitution, which are the things that are at maximum, what they could be given for a misdemeanor offense.

Felony Offenses

If a person is charged with felony offense they could face 12 months in jail if the jury decides to do that in lieu of prison time. Otherwise, that individual would be facing prison time. Their sentence could potentially go up to 10 years depending on the type of fraud. If someone were to also be charged with multiple counts of fraud then the sentences could run consecutively and stack. Meaning, that the defendant could serve dozens and dozens of years in prison.

If a person is charged with a felony offense and they are convicted of the felony offense then that person loses a lot of their civil rights, including the right to vote and including the right to bear arms. Those will happen immediately upon sentencing and usually, they are required to start their sentence immediately upon that person’s sentencing date. Usually, the person does not get a lapse in time so their consequences will probably start immediately upon that person’s conviction and sentencing in the state of Virginia.

Long-Term Consequences of a Fraud Conviction

The long-term consequences of a fraud conviction depend on what an individual is charged with. If an individual is charged with a felony offense, it is probably going to cause an individual some problems in the future because any type of fraud offense might cause a person to lose their job. It depends on what type of job a person has and how understanding the employers are.

However, if it is something that is a felony offense and moving forward in the future the person loses a lot of their civil rights including the right to vote and the right to bear arms, those are long-term consequences that that person cannot get restored unless they apply for their civil rights to be restored with the Governor of Virginia and that person additionally takes some other steps that their lawyer can help that person talk them through. If an individual wants to know more about fraud penalties in Virginia, they should consult a skilled fraud attorney that can also attempt to mitigate the penalties that the defendant faces.