Your right to remain silent would likely be one of your most important protections should you ever come under investigation for any type of fraud. Especially in cases that could involve federal courts, such as bank fraud, it would be important to understand this liberty.
Although your right to remain silent is powerful, it is also one of the easiest protections you can compromise personally. In most cases, you must positively assert it. As explained on FindLaw, you could even waive your rights by implication. Please read on for more information.
This could be a critical issue for many white-collar crimes due to what happens before a typical arrest. Charges of this type — bank fraud, wire fraud or federal crimes — often stem from extensively documented, meticulous investigations. It would probably be advantageous to presume the same of any charges you faced.
Prosecutors may not have to depend as heavily on your confessions in these types of situations. Furthermore, you could strengthen the case against you if you made incriminating statements.
In short, anything you say — especially in the context of a discussion with law enforcement personnel or investigators — would be unlikely to help your case. You may want to be especially wary of discussing any type of deal, including those in which you would give assistance to law enforcement in securing convictions against others.
Many people accused of white-collar crimes are expert negotiators. However, even the best negotiators need to fully understand all of the issues involved in the discussion in order to achieve the best possible outcome. In the case of a bank fraud charge, that would probably mean understanding relevant case law, the scope of the evidence against you, jurisdictional issues, civil rights law and the complex, multilevel regulations governing the specific act in question.
