Any person who commits the act of criminal conspiracy, shall be punishable with imprisonment in a Federal Penitentiary for a period of between five to fifteen years.

U.S. Department of Justice

Definition of conspiracy - A person is guilty of conspiracy with another person or persons to commit a crime if with the intent of promoting or facilitating its commission he: agrees with such other person or persons that they or one or more of them will engage in conduct which constitutes such crime or an attempt or solicitation to commit such crime; or agrees to aid such other person or persons in the planning or commission of such crime or of an attempt or solicitation to commit such crime.

The agreement need not be explicit but may be implicit in the fact of collaboration or existence of other circumstances.

A conspiracy is a continuing course of conduct which terminates when the crime or crimes which are its object are committed or the agreement that they be committed is abandoned by the defendant and by those with whom he conspired.

Accomplices - A person is a co-conspirator of an offense if he commands, induces, procures, or aids the other to commit it or, having a legal duty to prevent its commission, he fails to make proper effort to do so

Liability as Accomplice - Accomplice liability for offenses committed in furtherance of the conspiracy is the same as that of a principal conspirator.

Jurisdiction - There is federal jurisdiction over the crime of conspiracy.

The offense may be tried, in any place, regardless of where the offense was committed.

If a person who commits an offense outside of a country (say in Canada) that would be an offense in another country (i.e.. - theft of a US generated TV signal), if that theft were committed in Canada the person is deemed to have committed the crime in the US, and visa versa. If the person has been tried and dealt with outside Canada in respect of the offense the person shall be deemed to have been so tried and dealt with in Canada.

One positive note - A person may not be convicted of both conspiracy to commit a crime and the completed crime.

However, any person who commits the act of criminal conspiracy, shall be punishable with imprisonment in a Federal Penitentiary for a period of between five to fifteen years.

Prosecution for Multiple Related Offenses - When the same conduct of a defendant may establish the commission of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each such offense.

The scope of conspirators relationship - If a person guilty of conspiracy, as defined above, knows that a person with whom he conspires to commit a crime has conspired with another person or persons to commit the same crime, he is guilty of conspiring with such other person or persons, to commit such crime whether or not he knows their identity.

Conspiracy with multiple criminal objectives - If a person conspires to commit a number of crimes, he is guilty of only one conspiracy so long as such multiple crimes are the object of the same agreement or continuous conspiratorial relationship.

Renunciation of Conspiracy - If an offender, after conspiring to commit a crime, thwarted the success of the conspiracy, under circumstances manifesting a complete and voluntary renunciation of his criminal intent. Such abandonment is presumed if neither the defendant nor anyone with whom he conspired does any overt act in pursuance of the conspiracy during the applicable period of limitation; and if an individual abandons the agreement, the conspiracy is terminated as to him only if and when he advises those with whom he conspired of his abandonment or he informs the law enforcement authorities of the existence of the conspiracy and of his participation therein.

Criminal Attempt - A person is guilty of criminal attempt if, acting with the kind of culpability otherwise required for commission of a crime, he intentionally engages in conduct which, in fact, constitutes a substantial step toward commission of the crime.

A substantial step is any conduct which is strongly corroborative of the firmness of the person''''s intent to complete the commission of the crime.

Complicity - A person who engages in conduct intending to aid another to commit a crime is guilty of criminal attempt if the conduct would establish his complicity were the crime committed by the other person, even if the other is not guilty of committing or attempting the crime.