United States Ninth Circuit

In a prosecution of an insurance agency's treasurer for embezzlement of premiums collected by the agency but not remitted to an insurance company, the district court's denial of the defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal is reversed, where under long-standing Arizona law, the contract between the agency and the company--which permitted agency commingling, required monthly agency payments whether premiums were collected or not, and created a right to interest on late payments--created a creditor-debtor relationship, not a trust, and so an essential element of embezzlement was lacking.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/05/2012
• Published 03/05/2012

Judges

• Silverman

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Barry J. Pollack, Gary M. Restaino