United States Fifth Circuit

Defendant's conviction and sentence for wire fraud and theft of government funds are affirmed where: 1) the alleged wire supported the wire fraud count, and the evidence presented at trial supported defendant's wire fraud conviction; 2) it was not error for the district court to define "steal," for the purposes of 18 U.S.C. section 641, to mean "the wrongful taking of money or property belonging to another with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently"; and 3) the district court was not required to treat the money transferred by Louisiana to the federal government as an offset to defendant's intended loss comparable to either amounts repaid by a defendant before a fraud is detected or investment money returned in a Ponzi scheme.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/14/2010
• Published 09/14/2010

Judges

• Array

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel