Tampa criminal court case results
- government fraud dismissed in florida
- facts: Our client was charged with making a false statement to the Department of Agriculture. Upon applying for a license to conduct business as a travel agency with the Department of Agriculture, pursuant to the Florida Sellers of Trade Act, our client stated that they did not sell vacation certificates at their agency. The problem with that statement, however, was that the travel agency in fact did sell vacation certificates. By filling out the application in this way, the client was accused of attempting to avoid a $50,000 assurance charge, instead incurring a lesser charge of $10,000 by filling it out the way they did. The higher charge is intended to protect the consuming public from things such as fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract, by providing a source of refunds. Once this discrepancy in the application was brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida, charges were brought against our client for making a false statement on the license application.
- defense: The application was in fact put together and filled out by an attorney our client previously retained in order to help throughout the licensing process. It was merely a clerical error that was in the process of being fixed, and the correct assurance charge would be paid.
- results: After bringing this and other facts to light amidst negotiations with the State, the problem was fixed and the charge was dropped.
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