Penalties in Maryland White Collar Criminal Cases

Depending on where the case occurred, penalties for white collar criminal cases in Maryland are determined very differently. In the state courts, there is one set of sentencing guidelines that is associated with penalties in White Collar cases. In federal courts, there is a different set of sentencing guidelines that is associated with White Collar cases. So it depends completely on where the case is being heard.

If you really want to know what kind of penalties you can be exposed to if you are charged with a White Collar case, the best person to explain it is going to be an attorney or a judge. Not only do these criminal guidelines change on a case by case basis, they also change based on the amount that is being alleged to have been taken as part of the criminal act. So it is very difficult to determine exactly what the sentence would be if we don’t know exactly what the person’s charge is.

How Do You Mitigate Potential Penalties for White Collar Offenses in Maryland?

Well, mitigating those penalties means that we believe that at some point there is enough information to actually prosecute and convict. So, the first thing that we have to look at is whether or not there is sufficient evidence on the part of the prosecution and often there is not.
But if we find ourselves in a situation where the prosecutors believe that they can go forward on these charges, then there are some ways to mitigate the results.  One way is restitution.  If it is something that the prosecutor is amenable to in some cases where the evidence is shaky or if the victim of the fraud doesn’t want to go forward with the case, then restitution might be an opportunity to have the case completely dismissed from a person’s record. So restitution is one of the biggest ways to try and mitigate the damage in a particular case.
Another way to mitigate is to explain to the court as well as the prosecution what my client’s criminal background is. Somebody having no criminal background is going to be seen as far more favorable in the court’s perspective as opposed to somebody with an extensive criminal background.
In addition, the circumstances of the event itself can have an impact. Whether it was a person who needed money, a person who participated in a situation just as an opportunity, or it was some kind of a lengthy scheme. These are all things that we need to address with the prosecuting attorney or judge in order to secure them with the most appropriate sentence.