From Bean Counting to Soul Searching: The Amended Definition of ‘Intended Loss’

in the Fraud Guidelines

For the purpose of determining the amount of loss from economic crime, in 2015 the Sentencing Commission amended the fraud guidelines (U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1) to clarify that “intended loss” means “the pecuniary harm that the defendant purposely sought to inflict” on the victim. The authors discuss two cases, one decided by the Seventh Circuit and one pending in the Third Circuit, that demonstrate how the recent amendments concerning intended loss can benefit white collar defendants.