In United States v. Linda Mangano and Edward Mangano, 2d Cir. No. 22-861 (L) (Feb. 13, 2025), the Court upheld the defendants’ convictions for honest-services fraud and obstruction of justice, but vacates Edward Mangano’s bribery-related convictions. We focus on that aspect of Judge Livingston’s thorough opinion. Edward Mangano was the County Executive of Nassau County … Read more
In United States v. Greenberg, Nos. 23-7168 and 23-7249 (2d Cir. Feb. 3, 2025) (per curiam), the Second Circuit (Walker, Robinson, Merriam, JJ.) held that 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a) (“Fraud and misuse of visa, permits and other documents”) prohibits the possession of authentic immigration documents that have been obtained by fraud, not just the possession … Read more
On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court reversed the Second Circuit in Ciminelli v. United States, 598 U.S. 306 (2023), and Percoco v. United States, 598 U.S. 319 (2023) holding invalid both the Circuit’s “right to control” theory of fraud (Ciminelli) and its theory that a private citizen with a “special relationship” with the government, … Read more
After the Circuit’s original decision (in 2019) affirmed the fraud and conversion convictions of the four defendants (over a dissent by Judge Kearse), the Supreme Court granted cert., vacated the judgment, and “remanded for further consideration, in light of Kelly v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1565 (2020).” See United States v. … Read more
In case you missed it, the Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Dubin v. United States, No. 22-10, which presents the question whether a person commits aggravated identity theft any time he or she mentions or otherwise recites someone else’s name while committing a predicate offense. David Dubin was convicted of Medicaid fraud. As the … Read more
In US v. Dumitru, decided March 22, 2021, an immigration attorney was convicted after trial of asylum fraud, making false statements, and aggravated identity theft. She was sentenced to 60 months. The attorney’s alleged conduct was that she falsely filled out asylum applications on behalf of her clients and also signed and notarized those applications … Read more
Kelly v. United States concerns New Jersey’s well-known Bridgegate scandal, where officials with ties to Gov. Chris Christie decided to punish the residents of Ft. Lee because their mayor would not endorse Christie for reelection in 2013. So, beginning on the first day of school, and under the guise of a traffic study, the defendants … Read more
This was a government appeal from the district court’s grant of a new trial motion, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 33, on a count of conspiracy to commit security fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371. See 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) (securities fraud). The Circuit, however, reversed the district court and remanded “with instructions to reinstate the … Read more
The Second Circuit issued two opinions this week on third parties’ claims for restitution and shares of criminally forfeited property from defendants. See Federal Insurance Co. v. United States & United States v. Mazer (related cases), Nos. 16-2967 & 16-3402 (2d Cir. 2017) (Parker, Lynch, Carney) (appeal from Daniels, J., SDNY), opinion available here; United … Read more
Yesterday, in a published opinion, the Second Circuit reversed the convictions in an off-label drug importing case because the district court erroneously excluded evidence concerning the advice of counsel defense. The opinion in United States v. Scully, No. 16-3073 (Pooler, Lynch, Cogan (by designation) (appeal from Spatt, J., EDNY) is available here. The opinion touches … Read more