Elements of Crime

Actus reus refers to the guilty act itself. It is the physical action, omission, or state of being that a person must perform for the act to constitute a crime.
It is a fundamental principle in criminal law that a crime must involve some form of voluntary physical act or omission.
In the business context, actus reus can take the form of fraudulent activities, such as embezzlement, misrepresentation, or insider trading.

Mens rea refers to the guilty mind or the criminal intention or knowledge behind the act.
For a crime to happen, the individual must have the intention to commit the act, or have been reckless or negligent as to whether the crime would occur.
Higher levels of mens rea might be required for more serious offences in business, such as fraud.

Causation pertains to the “cause and effect” relationship between the defendant’s actions and the harm produced.
For a conviction, the prosecution must prove that there is a direct link between the guilty act and the outcome, and that the outcome would not have occurred without the guilty act.
In business terms, causation might involve proving that a company’s fraudulent activity led to a customer’s financial loss.

Concurrence is the principle that the mens rea and actus reus must occur together - the intention or recklessness must line up with the guilty act.
This ensures that people are only convicted for harm they intended to cause (or were reckless or negligent about), rather than harm that accidentally happened at the same time as their guilty act.
For a business, this means demonstrating that the fraudulent activity was done knowingly, and not due to a mere clerical error or mistake.

Fraud: Intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual. This can imply false representation, failing to disclose information, or abuse of position.
Insider Trading: The illegal practice of trading on the stock exchange to one’s own advantage through having access to confidential information.
Money Laundering: Processing illegally-obtained proceeds to appear a legitimate income.
Embezzlement: Unlawful appropriation of funds by an individual to whom such funds have been entrusted.
Tax Evasion: Illegal practice of not paying owed taxes by not reporting income, reporting expenses falsely, or not paying due taxes.