What is organized fraud?

Organized fraud covers engaging in a scheme to defraud and, in furtherance of it, obtaining property. Degree depends on the aggregate value.

The significance is aggregation. Rather than charging individual transactions, the State charges one offense covering the whole course of conduct, with the total value setting the degree. That converts a series of smaller matters into a single serious felony.

There's a related communications fraud provision addressing each individual communication in furtherance of a scheme, which can produce numerous counts.

Where these are defended: whether a "scheme" existed as opposed to a series of unrelated transactions or a failed business; whether intent to defraud existed at the outset rather than a venture that failed; the valuation of what was actually obtained; and whether the aggregation is proper.

The line between a fraudulent scheme and a business that didn't work is genuinely contested territory, and these cases frequently turn on documents rather than testimony.