Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(B)  Fraud Against the Government.  Fraud against the government is not limited to pecuniary fraud, since an intent to undermine or subvert governmental authority is also considered to be an intent to defraud the government.  Therefore, where intent to defraud the government by subverting its authority is a necessary element of an offense, the offense is generally held to be a crime involving moral turpitude.[58]  The rule has been extended to include other crimes as well, e.g., counterfeiting coins.[59]

[58] Jordan v. De George, 341 U.S. 223 (195l).  The most obvious crime to illustrate this rule is perjury.  E.g., United States ex rel. Karpay v. Uhl, 70 F.2d 792 (2d Cir. 1934), cert. den., 293 U.S. 573 (1934); United States ex rel. Cumberbatch v. Shaughnessy, 117 F.Supp. 152 (D.N.Y. 1953); United States ex rel. Carella v. Karnuth, 2 F.Supp. 998 (D.N.Y. 1933).

[59] Bisaillon v. Hogan, 257 F.2d 435 (9th Cir.), cert. den. sub nom. Bisaillon v. Sureck, 358 U.S. 872 (1958) (willfully and knowingly making a false statement in a passport application with intent to obtain the issuance of a passport contrary to law constituted a fraud on the United States, although not measurable in dollars and cents, being in that regard akin to perjury); United States ex rel. Giglio v. Neelly, 208 F.2d 337 (7th Cir. 1953) (the absence of fraudulent intent as an essential element of counterfeiting coins indicated that Congress did not intend to impute moral turpitude in the offense).