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why are the charges "wire fraud" and not just "defrauding investors" ?

is there some technicality at play here?

Yes, In order to invoke federal jurisdiction the SEC uses the fact that they communicated beyond state lines over the wire. This is why all the charges are called wire fraud. Relevant: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/commerce_clause

so if she only dealt with california investors, this trial wouldn't be happening?

Then she could be prosecuted by the State of California, for violation of state fraud laws.

Basically everything is interstate commerce. See Wickard v Filburn. It's why growing your own pot or making your own machine gun earns you federal jail time, even if they never enter commerce or leave the state. Basically whether commerce leaves state lines means nothing in terms of whether there is interstate commerce; even growing your own crops to feed to your own animals is considered interstate commerce.

Whether a wire left the state means dick to whether the federal government has constitutional authority over it, per supreme court.

> See Wickard v Filburn

Interesting case, thanks. Here's a link if someone else is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn

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