In a summary order on March 8, 2017, the Second Circuit (Katzmann, C.J. and Pooler and Lynch, J.) affirmed the conviction and sentence for wire fraud in United States v. Frenkel. The case attracted some public attention...more
3/16/2017
/ Citigroup ,
Collateral ,
Commercial Loans ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Evidence ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraudulent Inducement ,
Loans ,
Negligence ,
Restitution ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
In United States v. Monsalvatge (Nos. 14-1113, 14-1139, and 14-1206), a divided panel of the Second Circuit explored the contentious topic of introducing blockbuster films as evidence in a criminal prosecution. Defendants...more
In a decision dated March 10, 2017, the Circuit issued a blistering decision vacating the district court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in United States v. Johnson, No. 15-3498-cr (Jacobs, J.,...more
Aéropostale is known by many as a staple of adolescent wardrobes and shopping-mall standard. But as a patsy for kickback schemes? In United States v. Finazzo, 14-3213-cr, 14-3330-cr (Droney, J., joined by Judges Sack and...more
3/13/2017
/ Appeals ,
Criminal Conspiracy ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Fashion Industry ,
Fraud ,
Joint Venture ,
Mail Fraud ,
Remand ,
Restitution ,
Right to Control ,
Travel Act ,
Vacated ,
White Collar Crimes ,
Wire Fraud
On February 23, 2017, the Second Circuit (Chief Judge Katzmann, Judge Winter, and District Judge Sidney Stein, by designation) issued a per curiam decision in United States v. Natal, et al., that led to a partial reversal and...more
On February 16, 2017, the Second Circuit (Leval, Calabresi, Carney) issued a summary order in United States v. Lopez, No. 16-1019, vacating and remanding for reconsideration the district court’s denial of the appellant’s...more
2/26/2017
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Clear Error Standard ,
Criminal Appeals ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Drug Possession ,
Federal Sentencing Guidelines ,
Motion for Reconsideration ,
Remand ,
Sentence Reduction ,
Sentencing ,
Summary Judgment ,
Vacated
On Wednesday, February 15, the Second Circuit issued a published opinion in United States v. Barret, No. 12-4663(L) (Pooler, Hall, Carney), addressing an issue of first impression in the Circuit—whether testimony of a former...more
Yesterday the Second Circuit issued an order denying rehearing en banc in United States v. Marinello, No. 15-224, after an active judge of the Court had requested a poll as to whether the case should be reheard by the full...more
Franco Lupoi was sentenced to 156 months on money laundering conspiracy and heroin trafficking conspiracy charges, in excess of the applicable Guidelines range and the 135 month sentence requested by the government. In its...more
On January 31, 2017, the Court (Katzmann, Kearse, Livingston) issued a nonprecedential summary order vacating and remanding an order denying a motion for resentencing in United States v. Majors, No. 15-4022. The remand was...more
In a summary order issued yesterday in United States v. Munteanu, No. 16-1254, the Second Circuit (Winter, Cabranes, Lynch) reiterated that a district court must make findings of fact before imposing an obstruction of justice...more
In July 2016, the Second Circuit ruled that the Government could not employ a domestic search warrant, issued pursuant to the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703 (the “SCA”), to compel disclosure of an email account...more
1/27/2017
/ Appeals ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Email ,
En Banc Review ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Ireland ,
Microsoft ,
National Security ,
Right to Privacy ,
Search Warrant ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Subpoenas
Yesterday the Second Circuit affirmed, in United States v. Ramirez (No.15-2570), the so-called “one-book rule”: if sentenced criminals want to seek a reduction in sentence based on changes in the Sentencing Guidelines, they...more
The Supreme Court’s decision in Salman v. United States, 137 S.Ct. 420 (2016) is already having an effect on the appeals arising out of the insider trading convictions in the Southern District of New York. Shortly after...more
In Moss v. Colvin, 15-2272, the Second Circuit (Katzmann, Wesley, Carney) issued a per curiam decision affirming the denial by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Crotty, J.) of the petitioner’s...more
In a short summary order, the Court (Winter, Jacobs, Cabranes) vacated a term of supervised release because the district court had improperly calculated the advisory Guidelines range. Defendant Raddy Breton pleaded guilty to...more
In United States v. Huggins,15-1676, the Second Circuit (Winter, Cabranes, and Restani, sitting by designation) limited the scope of two Guidelines enhancements often applicable to white-collar crimes: (1) U.S.S.G....more
In United States v. Strong, No. 15-2992, the Court (Kearse, Lohier, and Droney) affirmed Strong’s conviction in a brief, per curiam opinion. Strong was charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to...more
In United States v. Leonard, No. 15-22-32-cr (December 14, 2016) (Raggi, Chin, Droney), the Second Circuit vacated and remanded an order finding a defendant ineligible for a sentence reduction based on a retroactive amendment...more
In United States v. Brown, No. 13-1706, the Second Circuit (Pooler, Sack, and Droney), withdrew the Court’s June 14, 2016 opinion, vacating Nathan Brown’s sixty year prison sentence on three counts of production of child...more
The United States Supreme Court (Alito, J.) issued a unanimous decision today affirming the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Salman v. United States, an insider trading case concerning tippee liability. The Court held that the...more
Yesterday, the Supreme Court decided a major insider trading case, Salman v. United States, 15-628. In Salman, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its prior ruling in Dirks v. SEC and held that a jury could infer that a tipper...more
In United States v. Sawyer, No. 15-2276, the Second Circuit (Jacobs, Pooler, Crawford) vacated and remanded for resentencing a case involving a conviction for possession of child pornography. The decision rested on a finding...more
In United States v. Algahaim, No. 15-2024(L), the Second Circuit (Newman, Winters, Cabranes) upheld the conviction of two defendants for misconduct involving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”), but...more
In United States v. Gilliam, 15-387, the Second Circuit (Newman, Winter, Cabranes) held that, under the exigent circumstances present in that case, law enforcement could use cell phone GPS data to locate a suspect without...more
12/2/2016
/ Cell Phones ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Exigent Circumstances ,
Fourth Amendment ,
GPS ,
Imminent Harm ,
Law Enforcement ,
Location Data ,
Sex Trafficking ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Warrantless Tracking