criminal-law
Why are some obvious fraudster not in jail?
<p>Why do some people that commit fraud is not in jail?</p>
<p>In <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/31104/how-would-the-law-in-us-handles-private-investigation-like-this/31108?noredirect=1#comment56209_31108">How would the law in US handles private investigation like this?</a> there is obviously plenty of evidence that a fraud has occured.</p>
<p>I check <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/16773/what-crime-is-commited-when-a-mechanic-charges-for-an-unneeded-or-non-existent-s">What crime is commited when a mechanic charges for an unneeded or non-existent service?</a></p>
<p>And it fits fraud</p>
<p>I asked around how the law treats cases like that in <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/31104/how-would-the-law-in-us-handles-private-investigation-like-this/31108?noredirect=1#comment56209_31108">How would the law in US handles private investigation like this?</a></p>
<p>Many said it's a crime.</p>
<p>Yet the person doesn't go to jail.</p>
<p>This is the discussion in the comment section</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So tell me why a company can be caught red handed like this and not
get charged ?</p>
<p>Its not
illegal to me dishonest, theres no law against liars. You simply
punish them by not doing business with them..</p>
<p>thought most fraud
cases were considered felonies.</p>
<p>they're selling services
they never supplied. That's fraud, which is illegal.</p>
<p>I imagine that the only
way it would be worth the effort for this kind of situation would be
through a class action lawsuit.  And most people who get scammed
aren't even aware they are getting scammed.</p>
<p>6 days ago to convict them some one need to sue them and spend
a lot of time and money at the end if he can't get a lot of people to
class action  law suit which most lawers are not intrested to do so</p>
<p>Actually, yeah it's called fraud and there are
definitely laws against it.  It can be hard to prove, but it's still
illegal/stealing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Notice how some people say that the victim got to sue first. Not really. It's a crime. You don't sue for criminal law. You sue for civil violation. So that doesn't really explain it.</p>
<p>Lack of evidence? Really? C'mon. We got video over there.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>The question is different than</p>
<p><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/31104/how-would-the-law-in-us-handles-private-investigation-like-this/31108?noredirect=1#comment56209_31108">How would the law in US handles private investigation like this?</a></p>
<p>In the former question, I ask how the laws handle this in general. In particular, I am asking if it is legal to video tape someone committing a possible crime without consent. <strong>Obviously the fraudster doesn't consent</strong>. I read sources where it may not be. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/14/crime-for-high-school-student-to-secretly-audio-record-his-tormentors-in-the-classroom/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.4d7c9b9023ae" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/14/crime-for-high-school-student-to-secretly-audio-record-his-tormentors-in-the-classroom/?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.4d7c9b9023ae</a></p>
<p>This question however is very specific. This question actually ask a question inspired by the former question. You can think of this question as derivative  or child question of the former question rather than &quot;copy&quot;</p>
<p>This is an obvious case of fraud. If this case is not fraud, then what is fraud? What sort of lie people do to count as &quot;fraud&quot;</p>
<p>The evidence is beyond any doubt. I mean, the only way a DA can't convict with evidence like this what more evidence do we have?</p>
<p>It's not just this case. I've been victim of fraud so  many times only to hear latter that it's &quot;civil&quot;.</p>
<p>Why is a fraud as obvious as this, not a crime?</p>
<p>So why isn't this guy on jail?</p>

<p>In the U.S., at least in the vast majority of states, law enforcement and prosecutors have no legal obligation to bring charges against someone even if someone files a complaint with law enforcement or a prosecutor's office and provides all of the evidence needed to assure a conviction.</p>

<p>Not every crime committed is prosecuted and not every crime prosecuted results in a conviction or incarceration.</p>

<p>Law enforcement and prosecutors often make white collar crime their lowest priority as a matter of policy, particularly when a lawsuit against the guilty party would provide a full remedy.</p>

<p>Victims often prefer that fraud perpetrators not be criminally charged or incarcerated as this reduced the ability of fraud perpetrators to pay compensation to the victims in a civil lawsuit or settlement.</p>
