Florida fraud charges are usually built by aggregation. Amounts, victims, and transactions are added together under statutes that convert a series of smaller allegations into a first-degree felony.
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Or call (813) 588-6602Florida Statute 817.034, the Florida Communications Fraud Act, sets out organized fraud. A person who engages in a scheme to defraud and obtains property thereby commits organized fraud, punishable as a felony of the first degree where the property obtained has an aggregate value of $50,000 or more; a felony of the second degree where the aggregate value is $20,000 or more but less than $50,000; and a felony of the third degree where the aggregate value is less than $20,000. The statute separately provides that a person who engages in a scheme to defraud and, in furtherance of it, communicates with any person with intent to obtain property from that person commits an offense for each such communication.
is the operative word. Transactions that would individually be minor may be combined, and the degree follows the total the state alleges rather than any single event.
Florida Statute 775.0844 defines white collar crime to include commission of, or a conspiracy to commit, any felony offense specified in a list of chapters, among them chapter 560 relating to the Money Transmitters' Code, chapter 812 relating to theft and robbery, and chapter 815 relating to computer-related crimes. It then defines aggravated white collar crime as engaging in at least two white collar crimes that share intents, results, accomplices, victims, or methods of commission, or that are otherwise interrelated by distinguishing characteristics and are not isolated incidents, provided at least one occurred after the effective date of the act.
Subsection (5) provides that a person who commits an aggravated white collar crime and thereby victimizes 10 or more elderly persons as defined in Florida Statute 825.101, 10 or more veterans, 20 or more persons, or the State of Florida or one of its agencies or political subdivisions, and thereby obtains or attempts to obtain $50,000 or more, commits a felony of the first degree. Subsection (6) provides that notwithstanding chapter 921 or any other law, an aggravated white collar crime is ranked at offense severity level 9.
Florida Statute 817.568 addresses criminal use of personal identification information. Subsection (2)(a) makes it a felony of the third degree to willfully and without authorization fraudulently use, or possess with intent to fraudulently use, personal identification information concerning another person without that person's consent. Subsection (2)(b) raises the offense to a felony of the second degree where the pecuniary benefit, value of services received, payment avoided, or amount of injury or fraud is $5,000 or more, or where the number of individuals whose information was used meets the statutory threshold.
Fraud allegations are documentary by nature, which cuts both ways. The state's theory rests on records: statements, transfers, invoices, contracts, correspondence, ledgers, and access logs.
These matters often begin before an arrest. Administrative Order S-2024-030 of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit assigns state attorney investigative subpoena matters to Criminal Division "O," along with first appearance hearings and petitions to seal and expunge in matters with no division assignment. Florida Statute 775.15 sets the limitation periods: 4 years for a felony of the first degree, 3 years for any other felony, 2 years for a misdemeanor of the first degree, and 1 year for a misdemeanor of the second degree, with time starting on the day after the offense is committed.
This page is general information about Florida fraud and theft statutes and local court procedure. It is not legal advice and analyzes no transaction or allegation. Anyone contacted by investigators about a fraud allegation in Florida should speak with a licensed Florida attorney before responding.
White Collar and Fraud Charges in Florida in Tampa. Call (813) 588-6602 and a Tampa lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (813) 588-6602Administrative Order S-2025-063 of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit adopts the statewide uniform bond schedule for Hillsborough County without change, effective January 1 through December 31, 2026. The order states the schedule applies only to the booking officer and does not bind a judge. It also excludes a long list of arrests: capital, life, first- and second-degree felonies, homicide, felony battery, domestic battery by strangulation, and domestic violence under Florida Statutes 741.28. The list continues with stalking, robbery, burglary, carjacking, kidnapping, trafficking in a controlled substance, and violation of a protective injunction. It reaches anyone on pretrial release, probation or community control at the time of a felony arrest, and anyone arrested three or more times in the preceding six months.
Why it matters: It decides whether anyone can be bonded out at the jail counter or has to wait for a judge. For every excluded charge there is no pre-first-appearance release, and the judge then makes an individualized determination under Florida Statutes 903.011(6) and 903.046 and Rule 3.131. Prior supervision status and recent arrest history change the answer even when the charge itself is minor.
Source: fljud13.org
The Hillsborough County Clerk of Court states that after a felony arrest the county jail sends the initial paperwork to the Clerk's felony department. That department prepares the official court file, including the original arrest document and any release forms, and forwards it to the Office of the State Attorney. The State Attorney then determines whether to file formal charges. Once charges are filed with the Clerk, the defendant is notified by mail of an arraignment date, sent to the address provided at the time of arrest, and the bail bond agent is also notified if the defendant bonded out. The felony department cannot change a court date once notice has gone out.
Why it matters: An arrest is not a filed charge, and the gap between them is where people assume a case has gone away. The notice that resumes it goes to whatever address was recorded at booking, so anyone who moved, or who gave a temporary address, can miss a court date they never saw. Missing it does not pause the case.
Source: hillsclerk.com
Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130 requires that every arrested person not already released in a lawful manner be taken before a judicial officer within 24 hours of arrest, in person or by electronic audiovisual device at the court's discretion. At that hearing the judge must state the charge, provide a copy of the complaint, and advise the person of the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. Rule 3.133 sets a separate 48-hour limit for a nonadversary probable cause determination when the defendant is in custody.
Why it matters: In Hillsborough County that hearing is normally run by video link from the county jail, and release conditions are addressed at it. Rule 3.130(c)(2) also requires the judge to allow a defendant who is hiring counsel reasonable time to send for that lawyer and, on request, to have an officer carry a message to a named lawyer inside the county at no cost. That makes the first day after an arrest the point at which counsel matters most.
Source: flcourts.gov
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