Terms Used In New York Laws > Penal > Part 3 > Title K - Offenses Involving Fraud

• Accumulated contributions: shall mean the sum of all the amounts deducted from the compensation of a contributor, and credited to his individual account in the annuity savings fund together with regular interest thereon. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Annuity: shall mean the annual payments for life derived from contributions made by contributor as provided in this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Annuity reserve: shall mean the present value of all payments to be made on account of any annuity, or benefit in lieu of any annuity, computed upon the basis of such mortality tables as shall be adopted by the retirement board with regular interest. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Beneficiary: shall mean any person in receipt of a retirement allowance or other benefit as provided by this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Child care institution: shall mean any facility serving thirteen or more children licensed by the department of social services pursuant to title one of Article 7 of the social services law operated by an authorized agency, or a residential treatment facility for children and youth, whether or not such residential treatment facility is operated by an authorized agency, except that Blythedale Children's Hospital shall be a child care institution. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Child with a handicapping condition: shall mean a person between the ages of five and twenty-one who has been identified through appropriate evaluation and assessment as having a disability arising from cognitive, emotional or physical factors, or any combination thereof, which interferes with the child's ability to benefit from regular education. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contributor: shall mean any member of the retirement system who has an account in the annuity savings fund as provided by this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: shall mean the county executive, or if there is none, the chairman of the county legislative body of the county which is responsible for a child in a child care institution or a private school, except within the city of New York, in which case county shall mean the mayor of said city. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Default: means an adjudication or other official determination of a court of competent jurisdiction or other public authority pursuant to which a conservator, receiver, or other legal custodian is appointed for an insured institution for the purpose of liquidation. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Employer: shall mean the state of New York, the city, the village, school district board or trustee, or other agency of and within the state by which a teacher is paid. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Farm and food product: means any agricultural, horticultural, forest, or other product of the soil or water that has been grown, harvested, or produced wholly within the state of New York. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 282
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Final average salary: shall mean the average annual compensation earnable as a teacher during the five years of service immediately preceding his date of retirement, or it shall mean the average annual compensation earnable as a teacher during any five consecutive years of state service, said five years to be selected by the applicant prior to date of retirement. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• First-instance processing: shall mean the washing, grading and packaging of farm and food products in connection with a farmers' market. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 260
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Fund: means the state savings and loan insurance fund created by section four hundred twenty-a of this article. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• gifted pupils: shall mean those pupils who show evidence of high performance capability and exceptional potential in areas such as general intellectual ability, special academic aptitude and outstanding ability in visual and performing arts. See N.Y. Education Law 4452
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Insured account: means a savings account held by an insured member and which is insured under the provisions of this article. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• insured member: means a savings and loan association whose application for membership in the fund has been accepted and approved; and which has made all payments required by this article; and whose membership has not been terminated. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• Insured savings and loan association: means an association whose accounts are insured under this article. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• labor official: means any duly appointed representative of a labor organization or any duly appointed trustee or representative of an employee welfare trust fund. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.10
• lawful rental and other lawful charges: means registered, reported or contracted for rent pursuant to chapter four hundred three of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-three, Article 2 of the private housing finance law or section eight of the federal housing act of nineteen hundred sixty-eight, or, rent contained in a court approved stipulation of settlement, even if such rent or charges are subsequently decreased by order of the department of housing and community renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.54
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Local district pension system: shall mean any teachers' retirement system or other arrangement for the payment of pensions or annuities to teachers exclusive of the retirement fund, created in any city or school district of this state prior to the first day of August, nineteen hundred twenty-one. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Maintenance: shall mean the amount charged for room and board, residential care and medical expenses, including those expenses reimbursable pursuant to title nineteen of the federal social security act, defined in accordance with the regulations of the commissioner of social services for a child care institution pursuant to § 398-a of the social services law. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• organization certificate: shall include an amended organization certificate. See N.Y. Banking Law 447-A
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Pari-mutuel horse race: means any horse race upon which betting is conducted under the provisions of the pari-mutuel revenue law as set forth in chapter 254 of the laws of 1940. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.35
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Pension: shall mean the annual payments for life derived from payments made by an employer as provided in this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Person: means any individual or entity. See N.Y. Penal Law 187.00
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Present teacher: shall mean any teacher who was a teacher on or before the first day of August, nineteen hundred twenty-one, whose membership in the retirement system created by this article has been continuous and
  
  a. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public agency: shall mean the family court, the division for youth or the local social services district. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Public or private agency: shall mean any agency of federal, state or local government, regional market authority, public benefit corporation, not-for-profit corporation, cooperative corporation or educational institution. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 260
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reserves: means the aggregate total of capital, advance premiums, assessments and retained earnings of the fund. See N.Y. Banking Law 420
• Residential mortgage loan: means a loan or agreement to extend credit, including the renewal, refinancing or modification of any such loan, made to a person, which loan is primarily secured by either a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien upon any interest in residential real property or any certificate of stock or other evidence of ownership in, and a proprietary lease from, a corporation or partnership formed for the purpose of cooperative ownership of residential real property. See N.Y. Penal Law 187.00
• Residential real property: means real property improved by a one-to-four family dwelling, or a residential unit in a building including units owned as condominiums or on a cooperative basis, used or occupied, or intended to be used or occupied, wholly or partly, as the home or residence of one or more persons, but shall not refer to unimproved real property upon which such dwellings are to be constructed. See N.Y. Penal Law 187.00
• Retirement allowance: shall mean the pension plus the annuity. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Retirement board: shall mean the retirement board provided by section five hundred four of this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Retirement fund: shall mean the state teachers' retirement fund for public school teachers of the state of New York as created by chapter one hundred forty of the laws of nineteen hundred ten, chapter four hundred forty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred eleven, chapter forty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred fourteen, chapter one hundred three of the laws of nineteen hundred nineteen and chapter one hundred sixty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred twenty-three. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Retirement system: shall mean the New York state teachers' retirement system provided for in section five hundred two of this article. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• School district of origin: shall mean the public school district of which a child was or is a resident at the time of such child's placement in the care and custody of a public agency. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• School district of residence: shall mean the public school district in which the child was or is living at the time a public agency is considering placement of the child in a child care institution, or at the time a child is placed with the division for youth. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Service: shall mean actual teaching or supervision by the teacher during regular school hours of the day, and shall mean governmental service in the state of New York in another capacity where the teacher was a member of the New York state employees retirement system, and where such service was credited to the teacher in the said New York state employees retirement system. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Special act school district: shall mean those school districts enumerated in chapter five hundred sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred sixty-seven as amended. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• Sports contest: means any professional or amateur sport or athletic game or contest viewed by the public. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.35
• Sports official: means any person who acts or expects to act in a sports contest as an umpire, referee, judge or otherwise to officiate at a sports contest. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.35
• Sports participant: means any person who participates or expects to participate in a sports contest as a player, contestant or member of a team, or as a coach, manager, trainer or other person directly associated with a player, contestant or team. See N.Y. Penal Law 180.35
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Storage: shall mean a facility or equipment with a refrigerated, controlled atmosphere, or other enclosed unit used for the purpose of long-term storage of farm and food products in connection with a farmers' market. See N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law 260
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Teacher: shall mean any regular teacher, special teacher, including any school librarian or physical training teacher, principal, vice-principal, supervisor, supervisory principal, director, superintendent, city superintendent, assistant city superintendent, district superintendent and other member of the teaching or professional staff of any class, public school, vocational school, truant reformatory school or parental school, and of any or all classes of schools within the state of New York, including schools on the Indian reservation, conducted under the order and superintendence of and wholly or partly at the expense of the New York state education department or of a duly elected board of education, board of school directors or board of trustees of the state or of any city or school district thereof, provided that no person shall be deemed a teacher within the meaning of this article who is not so employed for full time outside vacation periods. See N.Y. Education Law 501
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Tuition: shall mean the per pupil cost of all instructional services, supplies and equipment, and the operation of instructional facilities as determined by the commissioner. See N.Y. Education Law 4001
• tuition: as used in this article and in the provisions of chapter ten hundred sixty of the laws of nineteen hundred seventy-four shall mean the per pupil cost of all instructional services, supplies, equipment and the operation of instructional facilities as determined by the commissioner. See N.Y. Education Law 4211
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.