White Collar Crime

       Clearly a prosecutor needs a statutory base for prosecuting white collar criminal conduct.  In the realm of the federal criminal law system, this conduct can be based on a vast array of statutory offenses.  In recent years there has been a growth of statutes added to the federal criminal code that specifically pertain to white collar criminal conduct.  This has been noticeable in provisions added to combat financial frauds.

        It is necessary that Congress, in enacting these statutes, remain within the bounds of the Constitution.  Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution set forth the congressional powers, including provisions that grant Congress postal, taxing, and commerce powers.

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       The most widely used jurisdictional base for criminalizing federal offenses is the commerce power.  The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power 'to regulate commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with Indian Tribes.'  'Congress may regulate the use of channels of interstate commerce,' 'regulate and protect the instrumentality of interstate commerce, or persons or things in interstate commerce, even though the threat may come only from intrastate activities,' and 'regulate those activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce, i.e., those activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.

Ellen Podgor & Jerold Israel, White Collar Crime in a Nutshell (2015).