Justia White Collar Crime Opinion Summaries

Defendant was the mastermind of a Ponzi scheme that defrauded more than 230 investors out of over $22 million. Defendant pled guilty to bank fraud and to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The district court sentenced Defendant to concurrent terms of sixty months’ imprisonment on the wire fraud conspiracy count and 242 months on the bank fraud count. Restitution was also ordered in the amount of $10,629,021. Defendant appealed, arguing that his 242-month sentence was too high. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the 242-month sentence was both procedurally and substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Reyes-Rivera" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant, a former Massachusetts state trooper, was convicted of knowingly participating in the use of extortionate means to attempt to collect an extension of credit. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court’s finding of discrimination with respect to the government’s attempt to strike one juror and the court’s chosen remedy was not inadequate under Batson v. Kentucky; (2) the district court did not err in denying Defendant’s motion for acquittal based on insufficiency of evidence; and (3) the district court did not err in instructing the jury, and even assuming that the district court committed error, the error was harmless. View "United States v. Analetto" on Justia Law