Federal Business Email Compromise Charges

Someone at your company gets an email. It looks legitimate - from the CEO, the CFO, a vendor you've worked with for years. The request seems reasonable. Wire $50,000 to this account. Update our payment information. Process this invoice urgently. The money goes out. Weeks pass. Then federal agents show up at your door. They're not looking for the person who sent that email. They're looking for you.

The hacker is overseas. Beyond U.S. jurisdiction. You're not.

Business email compromise - BEC - has become one of the most aggressively prosecuted federal crimes in America. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported $2.77 billion in BEC losses in 2024 alone across 21,442 incidents. Cumulative losses over the past decade have reached $55.5 billion. The FBI's Recovery Asset Team successfully freezes only about 66% of fraudulent transfers. The other 34%? That money went somewhere. To accounts controlled by people prosecutors can actually reach. And those people - the money mules, the shell company owners, the "friends helping out" - are facing federal prison.

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We handle federal wire fraud and BEC defense cases nationwide. If you've been contacted by federal agents, received a target letter, or are wondering whether a transaction you were involved in might be part of a larger investigation - this article explains what you're actually facing.

They're Not Coming for the Hacker - They're Coming for You

The basic mechanics of a BEC scheme are straightforward. A criminal gains access to a business email account - through phishing, credential theft, or social engineering. They monitor communications, learn the company's vendors and payment patterns, then insert themselves into an existing transaction. They send an email that appears to come from a trusted source, directing payment to an account they control. By the time anyone realizes what happened, the money has moved through multiple accounts and often overseas.

The person who actually compromised that email account? Probably in Lagos. Or Bucharest. Or somewhere beyond the practical reach of U.S. law enforcement.

The money landed in Houston. Or Charlotte. Or Miami. Guess who gets arrested.

Consider Viraj Patel, sentenced in Florida in 2024. He received 46 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. His role? He picked up money and gold from victims and transported it to co-conspirators. He was ordered to forfeit $145,000. The total amount he moved: at least $216,000. Meanwhile, tracking down the actual scheme organizers overseas can take years of diplomatic negotiation - if it happens at all.

The FBI doesn't use soft language here. Their official guidance states: "People who further crimes in this way—even unknowingly—are called money mules and are subject to prosecution." Even unknowingly. That's the part that catches people off guard. You thought you were helping a friend. You thought it was a legitimate business opportunity. You thought the money moving through your account was from a real transaction. None of that protects you from federal prosecution.

Recent sentencing data tells the story. A Nigerian national in Dallas received 87 months for wire fraud. Co-defendants in an Iowa case got 121 months and time served respectively. Daphne De la Caridad Gonzalez in Florida received 46 months for laundering between $1.5 and $3.5 million. These aren't the people who orchestrated the schemes. There the people who touched the money.

Who actualy gets charged in BEC cases:

• The person who received the wire transfer into their account
• The owner of the shell company used to process funds
• The "friend" who agreed to forward payments
• Anyone in the domestic money chain prosecutors can reach

Here's the uncomfortable math the FBI doesn't advertise. They recover about 66% of BEC transfers. Their Recovery Asset Team froze $561.6 million in 2024. That sounds like success - until you realize it means 34% of funds go unrecovered. That money moved somewhere. It flowed through accounts held by real people in the United States. When prosecutors cant get the mastermind in Nigeria, they build cases against everyone they can reach. Your proximity to the money makes you a target regardless of your intent.

How One Wire Transfer Becomes 20 Felony Counts

Wire fraud falls under 18 U.S.C. § 1343. Maximum sentence: 20 years in federal prison.

Per count.

Every email sent in furtherance of the scheme can be charged as a seperate count. Every text message. Every phone call. A BEC investigation that involves 50 communications? Theoretical exposure of 1,000 years. Prosecutors don't actually seek those sentences, but the charge stacking gives them enormous leverage in plea negotiations.

What looks like one bad wire transfer becomes a federal indictment with multiple counts spanning several statutes:

1. Wire Fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343) - 20 years per count; 30 years if it affects a financial institution
2. Bank Fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344) - 30 years
3. Money Laundering (18 U.S.C. § 1956) - 20 years
4. Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371) - 5 years
5. Aggravated Identity Theft (18 U.S.C. § 1028A) - mandatory additional 2 years consecutive

Evaldas Rimasauskas orchestrated a BEC scheme that stole over $120 million from Facebook and Google. He was eventually extradited from Lithuania and prosecuted in the Southern District of New York. His sentence? Five years. American money mules moving a fraction of that amount face similar or longer sentences - because they're already here, already within reach, already easy to prosecute.

The federal sentencing guidelines make loss amount the primary driver. Base offense level starts at 7. Losses between $6,500 and $15,000 add 2 levels. Losses over $550 million add 30 levels. Number of victims matters too - more then 10 adds 2 levels, more than 50 adds 4 levels. At Criminal History Category I, offense level 37 carries a guidelines range of 210 to 262 months. Thats 17 to 22 years in federal prison.

The average federal fraud sentence runs about 23 months according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Roughly one in six defendants get probation. The rest get prison time ranging from months to decades.

The Evidence Your About to Destroy - And Why That's Another Felony

If your email account was legitimately compromised - if someone actually hacked in and used your account without your knowledge - there's evidence that can prove it. Login timestamps showing access from foreign IP addresses. Password reset requests you didn't initiate. Security logs showing unauthorized activity.

Most email providers keep these logs. For 30 to 90 days.

After that, they auto-delete. The evidence that could have proven your innocence disappears because you didn't know to preserve it.

But here's were people make it worse. They learn about an investigation - maybe agents call, maybe a co-worker mentions being questioned - and they panic. They delete emails. They clear browser history. They throw away the laptop. They think there protecting themselves.

There creating a new federal felony.

Obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1519 carries up to 20 years in federal prison. Destroying evidence after you know about an investigation is textbook obstruction. Prosecutors love obstruction charges because their easy to prove and they make you look guilty of the underlying crime. Even if you eventually beat the wire fraud allegations, you can still be convicted of obstruction.

What to Do When Federal Agents Call

The single most important thing:

Stop talking. Immediately.

Wire fraud is whats called a "specific intent" crime. The government has to prove you intended to defraud someone. If you genuinely didn't know - if you actually believed the transactions were legitimate - that matters. "Good faith" is a real defense. It can be the difference between conviction and acquittal.

But good faith gets destroyed the moment you start explaining.

Federal agents are trained to ask questions that seem friendly, cooperative, like their just trying to understand what happened. Every answer you give becomes evidence. "I thought it was a little weird but..." now the government has evidence you had suspicions. "I didn't really look into it because..." now you've admitted negligence. "I figured it was probably legitimate" sounds like willful blindness. Each statement narrows your defense options.

If you're contacted about a BEC investigation:

• Do not discuss the matter with anyone who might be involved in the scheme
• Do not destroy any documents, emails, or communications
• Do not make voluntary statements to federal agents
• Preserve security logs and account activity records immediately
• Contact a federal defense attorney before responding to any requests

Todd Spodek has handled federal wire fraud and BEC-related cases. He understands the difference between someone who knowingly participated in a scheme and someone who got caught up in something they didn't understand. That distinction matters enormously for strategy, for negotiations, for potential outcomes.

When Your Ready

If you've received a call from FBI agents, a subpoena for records, or a visit from federal investigators related to a wire transfer or BEC scheme - Spodek Law Group can help you understand where you stand.

The consultation is free. Theres no obligation.

What you'll get is an honest assessment. Are you a target or a witness? What's the realistic exposure based on the amounts involved? What evidence exists - and what evidence can still be preserved? Is there a path to resolution that doesn't involve prison?

Call 888-997-4071. The window for building an effective defense exists now - not after youve made statements, not after evidence has been destroyed, not after charges are filed. The earlier you have counsel, the more options remain available.

The hacker overseas might never face consequences. You will. Make sure you're prepared.