Justia White Collar Crime Opinion Summaries

Javell, the owner of a mortgage brokerage, and Arroyo, Javell’s employee and loan processor, were convicted of two counts of mortgage-based wire fraud (18 U.S.C. 1343) based on their actions in procuring a fraudulent mortgage during an FBI sting operation. Javell was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Javell argued the district court violated Bruton, and Javell’s Sixth Amendment rights by admitting the post-arrest statements made by Arroyo and by failing to properly instruct the jury about the rules of non-imputation. According to Javell, Arroyo’s post-arrest statements directly implicated Javell and had the jury not heard those statements, Javell would not have been convicted. Noting a “plethora” of other evidence, including recordings, the court rejected the argument. View "United States v. Javell" on Justia Law

The target witness learned in 2009 that the IRS had opened a file on him, and that an IRS special agent and DOJ tax division prosecutor were assigned to investigate whether he used secret offshore bank accounts to evade income taxes. Two years later, a grand jury issued a subpoena requiring that he produce all records required to be maintained pursuant to 31 C.F.R. 1010.420 relating to foreign financial accounts that he had a financial interest in, or signature authority over. The requested records are required under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970. The Government argued that the Required Records Doctrine overrides the Fifth Amendment privilege. The district court quashed the subpoena, concluding that the required records doctrine did not apply because the act of producing the required records was testimonial and would compel the witness to incriminate himself. The Seventh Circuit reversed, finding the Doctrine applicable. View "In re: February 2011-1 Grand Jury Subpoena" on Justia Law

Sklena and Sarvey were floor traders in the Five-Year Treasury Note futures pit at the Chicago Board of Trade. Sklena was a “local,” authorized to trade only on his own behalf; Sarvey was a “broker” and could trade for himself and for his customers. On April 2, 2004, the price of the Five-Year Note futures fluctuated wildly. Sarvey and Sklena executed the series of transactions that resulted in criminal prosecution. According to the government, Sklena and Sarvey conspired to sell Sarvey’s customers’ contracts noncompetitively. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil complaint alleging that the two “engaged in a series of non-competitive trades” that defrauded customers out of over $2 million. Sarvey died before trial on charges of wire and commodity fraud and noncompetitive futures contract trading. In Sklena’s trial, the district court excluded Sarvey’s deposition as inadmissible hearsay. Sklena was convicted. The Seventh Circuit reversed. There was sufficient evidence to support the conviction, but the court erred in excluding the deposition testimony.View "United States v. Sklena" on Justia Law

In 2005, attorneys White and Beaman, assisted securities broker-turned-real estate investor Seybold with a plan to buy, rehabilitate, and then sell, or refinance and rent, residential and commercial properties in Marion, Indiana. That plan involved the creation of two business entities, one partially owned by a group of private investors who contributed more than $1 million. When the plan failed, the investors sued. The district court entered summary judgment on all of the claims against the attorneys: state and federal RICO violations, conversion, federal and state securities fraud, common-law fraud (both actual and constructive), civil conspiracy, and legal malpractice. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The plaintiffs failed to establish either that an attorney-client relationship existed or that the attorneys owed them some other legal duty for purposes of the malpractice, constructive fraud, and securities-fraud claims. Plaintiffs relied solely on representations that concerned only future conduct, or on representations of existing intent that were not yet executed, so claims of actual fraud failed, Plaintiffs failed to provide evidence that the lawyers acted in concert with Seybold to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful purpose through unlawful means. View "Rosenbaum v. White" on Justia Law

After being rejected for a mortgage because Hall had a bankruptcy and their joint income was too low, Phillips and Hall applied with Bowling, a mortgage broker, under the “stated income loan program.” Bowling prepared an application that omitted Hall’s name, attributed their combined income to Phillips, doubled that income, and falsely claimed that Phillips was a manager. Phillips signed the application and employment verification form. Fremont extended credit. They could not make the payments; the lender foreclosed. Bowling repeated this process often. He pleaded guilty to bank fraud and, to lower his sentence, assisted in prosecution of his clients. Phillips and Hall were convicted under 18 U.S.C. 1014. The district court prohibited them from eliciting testimony that Bowling assured them that the loan program was lawful and from arguing mistake of fact when in signing the application and employment verification. They argued that they were hindered in showing the lack of intent for a specific-intent crime. The district judge concluded that they sought to argue mistake of law. Jury instructions required acquittal absent a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendants knew that the statements were false; genuine mistake of fact would have led to acquittal.. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.View "United States v. Phillips" on Justia Law

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sought an order to prohibit brothers George and Robert Michael, former owners, directors, (Robert), officer of Citizens Bank, from participation in the affairs of any insured depository, 12 U.S.C. 1818(e)(7), and civil penalties, 12 U.S.C. 1818(i), for violations of Federal Reserve regulations, breaches of fiduciary duty, and unsafe and unsound practices. The ALJ issued a 142-page decision with detailed findings showing that the Michaels engaged in insider transactions and improper lending practices and recommending that the FDIC Board issue a prohibition order and civil penalties. The FDIC Board affirmed the decision. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The Michaels urged overturn of numerous adverse credibility determinations and proposed inferences from the record in a way that paints a picture of legitimacy despite the Board’s contrary determinations. The court noted the deference owed the agency determination and found substantial evidence to support the Board’s decision.. View "Michael v. Fed. Deposit Ins. Corp." on Justia Law

In 2005, Banks, a construction worker, wanted to flip houses, but did not have capital. John, a mortgage broker, suggested that they purchase homes from distressed owners at inflated prices, with the sellers promising to return money above what they owed their own lenders. Owners cooperated rather than face foreclosure. Banks renovated the houses using funds received from sellers and resold them. Johns collected a broker’s fee. When they purchased a house from owners in bankruptcy, they wanted a mortgage to secure payment from the sellers and informed the trustee of the bankruptcy estate. Despite protestations by the trustee, the sale went through, and Banks used the rinsed equity to pay off sellers’ creditors through the trustee. The sellers’ lawyer discovered the scheme, which led to indictments. Johns was convicted of making false representations to the trustee regarding the second mortgage and for receiving property from a debtor with intent to defeat provisions of the Bankruptcy Code. With enhancements for financial loss and for targeting vulnerable victims, Johns was sentenced to 30 months. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the conviction, rejecting challenges to sufficiency of the evidence and jury instructions, but remanded for clarification of sentencing enhancements. View "United States v. Johns" on Justia Law

McKinney and his brother own a construction business. In 2003, the IRS filed notice of tax liens and pursued collection. McKinney avoided payment by transferring money from the business into accounts used for personal expenses. He made false statements about his ability to pay. He failed to pay taxes during 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Because of the tax liens, McKinney was unable to obtain a residential mortgage. His wife obtained a loan to purchase a home, falsely stating that she was a full-time manager of the construction business with a gross monthly income of $15,374.23. Her husband signed a false employment verification; he earned the income used to pay the mortgage. His brother and his brother’s wife acted similarly. McKinney entered a plea to charges of conspiracy to defraud, impede, impair, obstruct, and defeat functions of the IRS in collection of income taxes, 18 U.S.C. 371; tax evasion, 26 U.S.C. 7201; and false statements to revenue agents, 26 U.S.C. 1001. He received a two-level enhancement to his base offense level for failing to report income exceeding $10,000 from criminal activity, U.S.S.G. 2T1.1(b)(1), and a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice, U.S.S.G. 3C1.1. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. View "United States v. McKinney" on Justia Law

Collins served as a city councilman and vice-mayor of East St. Louis. In 2002 he moved to the suburbs, but continued to use his previous address to vote East St. Louis and to establish residency for election to as precinct committeeman for the Democratic Party. Federal agents checked tax filings to verify his residency and discovered that Collins had not filed federal or state income tax returns for almost two decades. Convicted of multiple counts of tax evasion, willful failure to file tax returns, and voter fraud, he was given a within-guidelines sentence of 50 months. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court used pattern jury instructions for tax evasion, which properly define the required element of willfulness and need no clarification to distinguish tax evasion from negligent failure to file. It is not “remotely plausible” to attribute tax delinquency of almost two decades to negligence. The court properly stated Illinois law regarding requirements for establishing voting residency. The evidence was “easily sufficient” to support the verdict. Collins did not file tax returns, and to hide his income, commingled personal and business accounts, used a false Employer Identification Number, and misappropriated the Social Security Number of his deceased business partner. View "United States v. Collins" on Justia Law

Hill and his wife incorporated a tax service business, run out of their apartment, then obtained the names, birth dates, and social security numbers of real individuals and filed approximately 121 false tax returns for the tax year 2005, amounting to approximately $525,460 in false filings. In total, the IRS issued approximately $353,500 in tax refunds, which were electronically transferred to value cards which Hill was able to redeem for cash. Hill pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S.,18 U.S.C. 286 and one of 20 charged counts of fraud in connection with identity theft, 18 U.S.C. 1028(a)(7) and was sentenced to 92 months in prison. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding the sentence reasonable. View "United States v. Hill" on Justia Law