People v. Woolson

181 Cal. App. 2d 657, 5 Cal. Rptr. 766, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2042
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 10, 1960
DocketCrim. 6685
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 181 Cal. App. 2d 657 (People v. Woolson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Woolson, 181 Cal. App. 2d 657, 5 Cal. Rptr. 766, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2042 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

LILLIE, J.

Defendant was convicted by the court, a jury having been waived, of the crime of grand theft (Pen. Code, *661 § 487, subd. 1), and two violations of the Corporate Securities Act (Corp. Code, § 26104, subd. (a)). He has appealed from the judgment of conviction. Since the sole assignment of error is the insufficiency of the evidence to show either a theft or a sale of a security, we summarize in some detail the facts presented.

The grand theft accusation involved the payment of $15,000 by one Robison, now deceased, to the defendant on or about August 19, 1955. The parties had met each other in September or October of 1954. Prior to this meeting, both had spent considerable time in Mexico where, they learned, there was an embargo on gold and a prohibition against the sale or possession thereof by anyone except the Mexican Government; they also became apprised of the fact that there was a flourishing black market in the commodity, and both concluded that there would be a profitable business future in the matter of buying crude gold from “campesinos” or “little fellows” (usually Taqui Indians) at a low price and selling it legitimately to the Mexican Government. The defendant told Robison that he had been working on the same idea for some time; that through an attorney named Rosas he had arranged with the government mint, the Banco de Mexico and the Department of the Interior for the necessary permit (which was shown to Robison) giving defendant and his corporation, the Impex Corporation, authority to purchase gold legally and thereafter sell it to the Banco de Mexico (stated to be similar to this country’s Federal Reserve Bank) or the mint. On March 16, 1955, the parties entered into a written agreement; prior thereto each had verbally undertaken to supply to the other his knowledge of Mexico, the defendant stating that he would proceed to Mexico ‘ ‘ and get the organization ready, and we will buy gold and we will sell it, and we will carry the business on in the name of Impex Corporation (with whom) we have a contract ... to purchase and sell gold”; Robison was also told by defendant that the parties would share in the profits “and whatever he shared I would get half.” The agreement read as follows:

“This agreement made and entered into this Sixteenth day of March, 1955, by and between Leigh Woolson, hereinafter designated as Woolson, and Ariel Q. Robison, hereinafter designated as Robison,
“WITNESSETH :
“Woolson, through his interest in Impex-Corp., S.A. Avenue Juarez 64, 712 Mexico City, D.F. Mexico, has an opportu *662 nity to complete some work for the corporation which was started in Mexico about a year ago, and which necessitates a journey to Mexico City, Mexico and may require a prolonged stay of several weeks in completing the transaction. Woolson requires some funds to pay such expenses and has offered Robison one half of all of the moneys he received from the business transaction in consideration of the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) from Robison to cover said expenses.
“The Impex-Corp., S.A. has been designated by the Mexican Government an [sic] their agent to purchase Gold in various forms from whatsoever sources that may tender the metal to said corporation and some large quantities of such metal have been offered to Woolson to be delivered in Mexico City to said corporation, to be assayed and its value and purity determined and sold to the said corporation, which in turn will sell such metal to the Mexican Government through a designated bank. There should be a substantial return to Woolson and others in such transaction and therefore Woolson and Robison are willing to spend their time and money in and [sic] effort to complete the business to their mutual gain.
“Now Therefore; for and in consideration of the sum of One Thousand ($1,000.00) Dollars in hand paid by Robison to Woolson, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged by Woolson, and of the mutual pormises [sic] by the parties hereto, each unto the other, the parties hereby agrees [sic] as follows:
“1. Woolson agrees to promptly journey to Mexico City and arrange with the owners of the Gold Metal to deliver it to the Impex-Corp., S.A., where it will be assayed and valued and then delivered to one of the banks for the Government of Mexico and in turn Impex will pay the owners a price to be agreed upon for said metal, which will be less than the amount which Impex will pay for said gold.
“2. This transaction may require considerable time and more expenses than the sum of $1,000.00 being advanced by Robison, but such additional expenses will be defrayed from the transaction by Impex out of the moneys realized from the operation.
“3. Upon completion of the transaction all of the expenses thereof will be paid, incuding [sic] the moneys advanced by Robison and Woolson’s share of the moneys realized' therefom [szc] will be devided [sic] equally by and between Robi *663 son and Woolson, at such time and place as may be mutually agreed upon.
“In Witness Whereof, each of the parties have signed this agreement in Los Angeles, California, this date as first above written.
Leigh Woolson
Ariel Q. Robison”

As provided therein, Robison gave defendant $1,000 on the date of the agreement; subsequently, on March 21, 1955, he gave defendant an additional $1,200, a notation of which was made on the face of the instrument, for the general purposes set forth in the agreement. Thereafter the defendant made several trips to Mexico being accompanied on some of them by Robison. In April of 1955, he brought Rosas, the Mexican attorney, to Robison’s home for lunch. At the end of June (or thereabouts) of the same year, the parties drafted another agreement dated October 16, 1954, which they attempted to relate back to the date of their first meeting; in substance, after reciting matters already mentioned and predicated on the parties ’ mutual interest in the business venture previously described, it provided that the defendant would journey to Mexico, contact suppliers and buyers of gold and endeavor to purchase such gold for Impex Corporation at a price returning a profit upon any subsequent sale; it was further provided that defendant and Robison would share equally in any profits and losses resulting from the business. No further money was paid in connection with this second agreement.

Robison and the defendant drove down to Jalisco in mid-June of 1955 and then to Hermosillo; on the way back they saw Mr. Rosas in Jalisco, and there was a conversation between Rosas and the defendant concerning the Yaqui Refining Company (Refinadora del Yaqui) of which Rosas was president and defendant general manager (gerente general). Robison testified that he had no interest in this company which Rosas and defendant “operated on their own”; thus, Rosas “stated that this corporation was to be used to buy and refine gold, that they would operate the corporation and that it would still be separate and apart from any other transaction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 Cal. App. 2d 657, 5 Cal. Rptr. 766, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 2042, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-woolson-calctapp-1960.