Legal Question in Business Law in California

Corporations, LLCs, etc. can protect their owners from civil liability for the company's debts and obligations, but not from criminal liability.

If you personally commit mail and/or wire fraud then you can be charged, convicted and punished for it. The same is true if the fraud is committed by others acting at your direction. An LLC won't shield you from the consequences of your actions, even if they are taken in the LLC's name.

You're right that mail fraud can be committed via carriers other than the postal service. But even if that weren't so, the same actions would still constitute fraud and would be punishable under state law.

Although I agree with Mr. Hoffman's answer, I think your question may raise an additional valid question that he didn't answer; namely, whether the United States law enforcement and courts would have jurisdiction over you.

Criminal prosecutions are subject to several limitations, including lack of jurisdiction, lapse of time, former jeopardy, and what is known as the ex post facto rule.

The question of whether any United States court, Federal or state, would have jurisdiction to enforce any U.S. law must be examined closely. A respected treatise, the Restatement (2nd) of Foreign Relations Law says:

" A state has jurisdiction to prescribe a rule of law attaching legal consequences to conduct that occurs outside its territory and causes an effect within its territory, if either

(a) the conduct and its effect are generally recognized as constituent elements of a crime or tort under the law of states that have reasonably developed legal systems, or

(b) (i) the conduct and its effect are constituent elements of activity to which the rule applies; (ii) the effect within the territory is substantial; (iii) it occurs as a direct and foreseeable result of the conduct outside the territory; and (iv) the rule is not inconsistent with the principles of justice generally recognized by states that have reasonably developed legal systems."

Cases that have considered the extent to which U.S. laws and courts may assert jurisdiction over foreigners operating offshore include Wagman v. Astle (1974) 380 F.Supp. 497, and U.S. v. Turner (2009) 624 F.Supp.2d 206. I would also study the legislative history and cases in which 18 U.S.C. 1341 or 1343 has been applied to foreigners for additional insight.

I agree with what Mr. Whipple says, though I didn't infer from your question that you are outside the U.S.. But since you asked specifically about wire fraud and mail fraud -- both of which seem to inherently meet the criteria he listed -- I don't think jurisdiction is likely to be an issue even if you are in another country.