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Opinion of the Court
mercial practice" under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. As a result, the court awarded the tenants treble damages totaling $94,147.50, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Noting that courts had reached conflicting conclusions on whether § 523(a)(2)(A) excepts from discharge punitive damages (such as the treble damages at issue here), the Bankruptcy Court sided with those decisions holding that § 523(a)(2)(A) encompasses all obligations arising out of fraudulent conduct, including both punitive and compensatory damages.* 185 B. R., at 188-189. The District Court affirmed. 191 B. R. 599 (1996).
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed in a divided opinion. In re Cohen, 106 F. 3d 52 (1997). After accepting the finding of the Bankruptcy Court that petitioner had committed fraud under § 523(a)(2)(A) and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, the Court of Appeals turned to whether the treble damages portion of petitioner's liability represents a "debt . . . for money, property, services, or . . . credit, to the extent obtained by . . . actual fraud." § 523(a)(2)(A). The court observed that the term "debt," defined in the Code as a "right to payment," § 101(5)(A), plainly encompasses all liability for fraud, whether in the form of punitive or compensatory damages. And the phrase "to the extent obtained by," the court reasoned, modifies "money, property, services, or . . . credit," and therefore distinguishes not between compensatory and punitive damages awarded for fraud but instead between money or property obtained through fraudulent means and money or property obtained through nonfraudulent means. Id., at 57. Here, the court concluded, the entire award of $94,147.50 (plus attorney's fees and costs) resulted from money obtained
*The Bankruptcy Court characterized an award of treble damages under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act as punitive in nature, see 185 B. R., at 188, and the Court of Appeals assumed as much without deciding the question, In re Cohen, 106 F. 3d 52, 55, n. 2 (CA3 1997). That issue does not affect our analysis, and we have no occasion to revisit it here.
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