Kousisis May Boost Fraud Cases, But Questions Remain

Alexis Loeb spoke to Law360 for the article "Kousisis May Boost Fraud Cases, But Questions Remain" about the U.S. Supreme Court's finding in Kousisis v. U.S. that using deceptive means to induce a business transaction may still be a crime even if the defendant doesn't seek to cause economic loss.

In the article, Alexis commented that Kousisis could have implications for enforcement actions by the Trump administration against organizations that maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, given that Kousisis involves a false representation about DBE requirement.

"It's not hard to see how the administration could apply it to prosecute entities that it believes have falsely certified that they do not practice 'illegal DEI' or 'discriminatory DEI' by advancing the kind of fraudulent inducement theory endorsed by the court in Kousisis," Alexis said.

However, she noted, the fact that materiality was not contested in Kousisis "may create an opening to distinguish the government's attempts to apply it to DEI-related prosecutions."

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