Fraud & White-Collar Crime Defense in Tennessee

Under Tennessee law, traditional common-law distinctions between fraud, false pretenses, embezzlement, and trickery have been consolidated into the unified theft and property-offense framework. Governed primarily by Tennessee Code § 39-14-103 (Theft of Property), Tennessee Code § 39-14-104 (Theft of Services), Tennessee Code § 39-14-114 (Forgery), and Tennessee Code § 39-14-150 (Identity Theft), white-collar and fraud indictments carry severe penalties ranging from misdemeanors to high-level felonies based on financial value, sophistication, and statutory classifications.

MacNeill Law Firm provides rigorous criminal defense representation across Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee, challenging complex paper trails, auditing financial records, and defending clients against white-collar indictments.

• Statute: Tennessee Code § 39-14-103 (incorporating deceptive takings) and Tennessee Code § 39-14-104 (Theft of Services) 
• Overview: A person commits theft by deception if they knowingly obtain or exercise control over property or services by creating or reinforcing a false impression, failing to correct a false impression, or promising performance that the person does not intend to perform.
• Grading and Penalties: Punishments scale directly in accordance with Tennessee Code § 39-14-105, ranging from Class A misdemeanors (for losses under $1,000) up to Class A felonies (for losses exceeding $250,000, carrying 15 to 60 years in prison).

• Statute: Tennessee Code § 39-14-114 
• Overview: A person commits forgery who forges any writing (including checks, financial contracts, deeds, electronic records, or commercial instruments) with the intent to defraud or harm another. This includes altering documents, making false entries in business books or records, or passing a known forged writing. 
• Penalties: Under Tennessee Code § 39-14-114(c), forgery is punished as theft under § 39-14-105, with a statutory minimum floor making forgery no less than a Class E Felony (punishable by 1 to 6 years in prison), regardless of minimal financial face values.

• Statute: Tennessee Code § 39-14-150 
• Overview: Criminalizes knowingly obtaining, possessing, or using sensitive personal identifying information (such as Social Security numbers, bank accounts, or driver's licenses) of another person without lawful authority and with the intent to commit an unlawful utility, financial fraud, or economic gain.
• Penalties: Standard identity theft under subsection (b) is prosecuted as a Class D Felony (2 to 12 years in prison), while identity theft trafficking (transferring or bulk-possessing identifying data with unlawful intent) is elevated to a Class C Felony (3 to 15 years in prison) under Tennessee Code § 39-14-150(i).

• Statute: Tennessee Code § 39-14-121 
• Overview: Issuing or passing a check or sight order for payment knowing that there are insufficient funds in the account to cover it, executed with fraudulent intent or a conscious disregard to cover the draft.
• Penalties: Evaluated and graded as theft pursuant to Tennessee Code § 39-14-105, based strictly on the face value of the check.
  

• Challenging Intent to Defraud: Fraud requires proving a specific state of mind—that the accused acted with intentional deception or pre-existing intent to cheat. Demonstrating a good-faith business dispute, a genuine misunderstanding of contract terms, or mere civil breach of contract negates the criminal intent required for prosecution.
• Forensic Auditing and Paper Trail Reconstruction: White-collar cases rely entirely on documents, accounting ledgers, and digital communications. We retain independent forensic accountants and digital analysts to audit transaction histories, track accounting discrepancies, and challenge state-led financial conclusions.
• Disputing Valuation and Loss Metrics: In fraud and theft by deception, the severity of felony sentencing scales directly with the alleged dollar loss. Rigorously contesting overhead, offsets, refunds, or inflated financial losses is critical to reducing high-level felony charges down to misdemeanors.