The Bond That Never Paid

A company president sold investment bonds by post. Buyers paid a small sum up front and then monthly instalments. His circulars promised the bonds would soon be worth far more, with profits of up to half the money paid in within six months. Prosecutors say he never intended the bonds to pay out at all. He argues this cannot be fraud: fraud means lying about a present fact, and his circulars only made promises about the future. He was charged with using the mails to carry out a scheme to defraud.