The Statute of Limitations
Some people think that if enough time goes by and they don’t get charged with a crime that they’re off the hook. While most criminal offenses have a statute of limitations, which require a prosecutor to file charges within a specified period of time, fraud related crimes are sometimes treated differently because the nature of a fraud is for the crime to go undetected. As a result, many jurisdictions and some Federal statutes provide that the statute of limitations in some fraud cases does not begin to start running until the fraud is discovered. In theory, that could mean that a person who has committed mortgage fraud, bank fraud or real estate fraud could remain criminally liable for years into the future and that the statute of limitations would only begin to run when the auditors or investigators discovered the fraudulent activity.
Also, moving out-of-State could similarly toll the statute of limitations, in effect stopping the clock and allowing State prosecutors all the time in the world to bring criminal charges against you while you remain out of the State where the fraud related crime occurred.
