United States v. Bray

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of illegal insider trading. The conviction arose from Defendant’s act of receiving material, nonpublic information about a local bank from a fellow member of the Oakley Country Club and then using that information to make a substantial trading profit. Defendant appealed, arguing, in part, that the district court wrongly instructed the jury on the mens rea element of his offense. Defendant did not object to these instructions at trial. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the government presented sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict; and (2) the trial court erred in its instructions to the jury regarding the mens rea element of Defendant’s offense, but Defendant failed to establish that the error was plain error. View "United States v. Bray" on Justia Law