When the FBI Comes Calling…®

CONSPIRACY

You may be charged with:

CONSPIRACY

The object of a conspiracy is to form an agreement between two or more individuals seeking to accomplish together a criminal or unlawful act, or to achieve by criminal or unlawful means an act not in itself unlawful or criminal, accompanied by an overt act in furtherance of the agreement.*

Many federal statutes exist which criminalize certain agreements between two or more parties. However, the three most common are:

1. Title 18 U.S.C. § 371 - Two or more persons conspire to violate a federal law such as mail fraud, securities fraud, public corruption, or bank fraud;
2. Title 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) - Two or more persons conspire to launder monetary instruments or to engage in a monetary transaction derived from illegal activity;
3. Title 21 U.S.C. § 846- Two or more persons conspire to manufacture or possess with intent to deliver a controlled substance.*

* In order to be convicted under 21 U.S.C. § 846, the government need not show that the defendant committed any overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

Potential Punishment:
1. Title 18 U.S.C. § 371 -One may be found guilty of a felony, imprisoned up to 5 years, and fined up to $250,000.
2. Title 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)- One may be found guilty of a felony, imprisoned up to 20 years, and fined up to $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved, whichever is greater.
3. Title 21 U.S.C. § 846 - Depending on the type and quantity of drug involved one may be found guilty of a felony, imprisoned up to life, and fined up to $4,000,000.

The punishment is per transaction for all three types of conspiracies listed above. For example, if one conspires with others to commit mail fraud, to commit money laundering, and to commit drug trafficking, the potential punishment above may be life plus 25 years.

When one is charged under this statute, the AUSA will seek an indictment from a Federal Grand Jury and may include charges under other federal statutes, like Terrorism, Treason, NBC Weapons, or Subversion, and is likely to couple those charges with another lesser included offense like Obstruction of Justice where applicable. Should the government decide not to immediately seek indictment, one may be held under the Material Witness statute or, if related to any ongoing war (including the War on Terrorism) may be held through Combatant Detention.