In Fraud We Trust

Wes Henricksen is associate professor of law at Barry University School of Law. He is the author of Making Law Review: A Guide to the Write-On Competition.

"Disinformation is one of the greatest threats to democracy, yet we have few legal tools to fight it. That's because our laws against fraud were built for a pre-internet world where it was easy to defraud someone but incredibly difficult to defraud everyone. Henricksen shows how our antiquated legal system can be updated to hold the fraudsters of the twenty-first century accountable, from social media companies to politicians."--Justin P. McBrayer, author of Beyond Fake News: Finding the Truth in A World of Misinformation "In In Fraud We Trust, Wes Henricksen tackles the problem of lying--a problem of existential importance to a healthy democracy--with fresh eyes and an open, determined mind. His discussion of the harms threatened by lies, as well as the challenges posed by efforts to regulate lies, is original, comprehensive, and fair. Just as important, he then proposes solutions to these challenges that are both provocative and plausible."--Helen Norton, author of The Government's Speech and the Constitution "While far from being an attack on free speech, In Fraud We Trust is sure to trigger First-Amendment absolutists. Law professor Wes Henricksen presents thoughtful, carefully researched legal arguments as to why speech that defrauds the public at large is no more protected under the Constitution of the United States than examples of non-protected speech such as child pornography, defamation, or securities fraud. In Fraud We Trust also outlines how changes in the way laws on fraud are written and are currently enforced might actually slow down if not stop our seemingly inevitable march into a post-truth world."--Donald A. Barclay, author of Disinformation: The Nature of Facts and Lies in the Post-Truth Era "In this tour de force of interdisciplinary scholarship that could not be more timely, Wes Henricksen masterfully synthesizes insights from institutional economics, behavioral psychology, and regulatory theory to illuminate the systemic mechanisms that enable institutional fraud to metastasize throughout our power structures. Through meticulous analysis of primary sources and empirical evidence, Henricksen constructs a compelling framework that explicates how the intricate symbiosis between political, corporate, and media elites perpetuates information asymmetries and regulatory capture. This groundbreaking work transcends mere critique to advance a sophisticated normative agenda for structural reform, offering policymakers and scholars alike a rigorous blueprint for rehabilitating our democratic institutions through enhanced transparency mechanisms and realigned incentive structures."--Nadia Ahmad, coeditor of Unveiling the Real Terrorist Mind