Many criminal statutes that deal with making false statements to the government have as critical element the requirement that the defendant make false material statement. In other words, to be guilty of the crime, you must have lied to the government by making a material statement.
What is a material statement? In a nutshell, to be material, a statement must be strong enough to influence the government decision maker. So, for example, if you apply for food stamps and tell the government that you make a certain amount a month, the person reviewing your application will use that statement in deciding whether you are eligible. The law doesn’t require that your statement actually influenced the decision maker, only that it’s capable to influence.
Is leaving the answer blank the same as making a statement?
Let’s say you fill out an application that calls for a certain answer. You leave it blank. If you gave a truthful answer, the application would be denied. Is that a crime of making a false statement?
The answer depends on how the reviewer sees it. Was it an important factor in the decision making process? Was it the kind of the question that the government routinely asks but it’s ignored and is not really important? What is the answer is technically false but is still close enough? All these factors should be considered to decide if the statement is material.
On the other hand, if you try to trick the government and just leave the answer box blank because you want to conceal information from them, you can’t later argue that you didn’t make a false statement because you didn’t make a statement. For example, if you are asked to disclose how many people live with you in your household and what the total household income is and you leave it all blank instead of disclosing that you have a partner who has income, you have made a false statement.
If you have been investigated for fraud in New York, call our NYC criminal lawyers today at (212) 577-6677 to schedule an immediate consultation.