President's Message

There are so many federal crimes on the books but no one seems to know just how many there actually are. So, in 1982 the United States Department of Justice attempted to count them. They’ll get back to you on that…  

By best estimates, there are around 4500 crimes in the U.S. Code and “over 300,000” scattered among the federal regulations. Some of them are absurd, such as the following: 16 USC §§703, 707 & 50 CFR §20.91(a) make it a federal crime to barter duck feathers to be used for hat-making. Others, however, may lie dormant for years until they rear their ugly heads and disrupt your business plans. Take, for instance, 18 USC §336 which makes it a federal crime to issue a token for an amount less than $1 intended to circulate as money. I’m looking at you Bit/Lite/DogeCoin. And you, too, Ethereum. Just because you don’t have a “coin” in your name doesn’t get you off the hook.

You’re in luck. And so is the League. Meet Mike Chase, the Connecticut lawyer who started the popular @crimeaday Twitter account that has posted a new federal crime every day for over 5 years. Mike is the author of How to Become a Federal Criminal: An Illustrated Handbook for the Aspiring Offender and regular contributor on major media.  We are thrilled to have Mike join us at APEX 2021 as a keynote speaker discussing many of the federal financial crimes and cases that will entertain you in the moment but inform you for the future. 

When asked “Q: Why should we take your opinion seriously about these crazy laws?” Mike says:

“A: I don't know if anybody should take my opinion seriously about this, but I will tell you that by day I'm a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. I'll defend anybody for anything. By night, I spend a lot of time trying to count the number of crimes, because the Department of Justice said that they couldn't do it. They tried to count them all in the 1980s and quit. So I said, 'Look, if I do one federal crime a day, I only need 800 years to finish the job, and then I'll be able to say that I counted them all.' So that's what I've been doing.”

Mike Chase is one of the many talented speakers at APEX 2021 this October at Mohegan Sun. Look forward to more speaker profiles in the weeks ahead. The League is excited to welcome you and your family to APEX 2021 and to explore the wonders of Mohegan Sun.

As always,
Bruce