Wire and mail fraud matters · National preparation support
Contracts and Performance in Fraud Matters: Build the Source File
Organize agreements, amendments, delivery evidence and customer communications so counsel can examine the complete transaction history.
By Joseph De Gregorio · Federal Sentencing Strategist
Founder and President, Sentencing Advocacy Group · November 6, 2026
Request a Private Case Review · (646) 588-8182
Preserve the agreement history
Keep signed contracts, drafts where relevant, amendments and referenced attachments separately identified. Record the parties, dates and version sources. An unsigned draft and an executed agreement should not be treated as the same document. Counsel decides the legal effect of contract terms and changes.
Document what actually occurred
Locate contemporaneous records of deliveries, services, milestones, invoices and acceptance or complaint communications. Distinguish a promised deliverable from completed work. Avoid broad statements such as everything was provided unless the evidence supports them. Identify partial performance and unresolved questions candidly.
Connect disputes and corrections to dates
A later refund, revision or customer complaint belongs on the chronology with its source. Do not characterize every dispute as proof of crime or every completed task as a complete answer to an allegation. Counsel must evaluate the facts and law. Your file should allow the reviewer to see what happened and when.
Explain the individual contribution
Identify which terms you negotiated, what work you performed and what you learned from others. A company’s contractual obligations do not automatically describe each employee’s knowledge or actions. SAG can organize your professional account and practical preparation alongside counsel, preserving the distinction between factual history and legal argument.
Continue your preparation
Does performance alone resolve a fraud allegation?
That is a legal question for counsel. Preserve the complete performance record without assuming that one fact decides the matter.
Sources and a defined preparation assignment
Official context: Department of Justice: Justice 101. Sources checked November 6, 2026. Counsel evaluates the applicable law, dates and individual facts.
Work directly with Joseph to define the scope, authorized recipients and review dates. Agreed deliverables can include a personal and professional chronology, indexed supporting records, factual questions for counsel and a practical preparation schedule. SAG does not manage legal responses or provide forensic accounting. An engagement does not automatically establish privilege.
SAG serves clients nationwide from New Jersey, with travel arranged for cases. SAG is not a law firm. No charging decision, sentence, placement or release date is guaranteed.
For defense counsel: Discuss Support for Your Client. Share your role, stage and next deadline, not sensitive financial records or privileged advice, in the initial inquiry.