United States v. Adelson

237 F. App'x 713
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedAugust 16, 2007
DocketNos. 06-2738-cr(L), 06-3179(XAP)
StatusPublished

This text of 237 F. App'x 713 (United States v. Adelson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Adelson, 237 F. App'x 713 (2d Cir. 2007).

Opinion

[715]*715SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-Appellant Richard P. Adelson appeals from a June 6, 2006 judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Rakoff, J.) convicting him of one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Appellee United States of America (“Government”) cross-appeals from the district court’s imposition of a forty-two month sentence of incarceration. See United States v. Adelson, 441 F.Supp.2d 506 (S.D.N.Y.2006).1 We affirm the judgment of conviction. We hold the Government’s sentencing challenge in light of United States v. Gall, 446 F.3d 884 (8th Cir.2006), cert. granted, — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 2933, 168 L.Ed.2d 261 (2007), which deals with similar issues and which the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 2, 2007.

I. The District Court Did Not Err in Giving the Jury a “Conscious Avoidance” Charge

We review jury instructions de novo. Hudson v. New York City, 271 F.3d 62, 67 (2d Cir.2001). “A jury charge is erroneous if it misleads the jury as to the correct legal standard, or if it does not adequately inform the jury of the law.” Hathaway v. Coughlin, 99 F.3d 550, 552 (2d Cir.1996).

A conscious avoidance instruction “permits a jury to find that a defendant had culpable knowledge of a fact when the evidence shows that the defendant intentionally avoided confirming the fact” — in other words, it allows a jury to “find[ ] ... knowledge even where there is no evidence that the defendant possessed actual knowledge.” United States v. Ferrarini, 219 F.3d 145, 154 (2d Cir.2000). A conscious avoidance instruction may be appropriate “[e]ven when the government attempts to prove actual knowledge.” United States v. Jacobs, 117 F.3d 82, 98 (2d Cir.1997). Such an instruction should only be given, however, if “(1) the defendant asserts the lack of some specific aspect of knowledge required for conviction, and (2) the appropriate factual predicate for the charge exists.” Ferrarini, 219 F.3d at 154 (internal citation omitted). The latter requires that there be evidence sufficient to allow a rational juror to conclude “beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was aware of a high probability of the fact in dispute and consciously avoided confirming that fact.” Id. (internal alterations, quotation marks, and citation omitted).

Here, the first prong of the Ferrarini test is not in dispute; Adelson has consistently denied knowledge of the unlawful objectives of the alleged conspiracy. The second prong of the Ferrarini test — the existence of the appropriate factual predicate — is also satisfied, because there was evidence (1) that Adelson repeatedly heard about Impath’s inability to meet its projections and declining performance, (2) that he spoke with multiple people about the revenue variance, (3) that he received documents that were created for the very purpose of showing him the revenue variance, and (4) that, nevertheless, throughout the relevant time period, Adelson continued to report record results to the SEC and the public. He avoided learning how these suspicious results were achieved, evidence suggests, by waving away queries, dismissing those who asked too many questions, and refusing to read documents [716]*716that detailed the fraud and its implications. Based on this evidence, a reasonable juror could conclude that Adelson’s “failure to question the suspicious circumstances establishes ... purposeful contrivance to avoid guilty knowledge.” United States v. Svoboda, 347 F.3d 471, 480 (2d Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

II. The District Court Did Not Err in Denying Adelson’s Motions to Dismiss the Government’s Charges of Filing False Documents' with the SEC.

We review de novo the District Court’s decision to deny Adelson’s motions (one made before trial and one made after) to dismiss the Government’s charges of filing false documents with the SEC. United States v. Fernandez-Antonia, 278 F.3d 150, 156 (2d Cir.2002). A criminal defendant is entitled to an indictment that is “a plain, concise, and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(c). “This requirement ... fulfills the Sixth Amendment right ‘to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation;’ it prevents a person from being subject to double jeopardy as required by the Fifth Amendment; and it serves the Fifth Amendment protection against prosecution for crimes based on evidence not presented to the grand jury.” United States v. Walsh, 194 F.3d 37, 44 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting U.S. Const, amend. VI).

An indictment that complies with certain “basic principles of fundamental fairness” satisfies both the U.S. Constitution and Rule 7(c). Russell v. United States, 369 U.S. 749, 765-66, 82 S.Ct. 1038, 8 L.Ed.2d 240 (1962). For example, “[i]t is well settled that ‘an indictment is sufficient if it, first, contains the elements of the offense charged and fairly informs a defendant of the charge against which he must defend, and, second, enables him to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecutions for the same offense.’ ” United States v. Alfonso, 143 F.3d 772, 776 (2d Cir.1998) (quoting Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 117, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974)). We have also stated that “[w]hen an indictment delineates the elements of a charged offense, however concisely, the underlying concerns of proper pleading ... may be further promoted by a bill of particulars,” United States v. Stavroulakis, 952 F.2d 686, 693 (2d Cir.1992), and that an indictment should “be read to include facts which are necessarily implied by the specific allegations made,” United States v. LaSpina, 299 F.3d 165, 177 (2d Cir.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The indictment in this case clearly meets our standard. After specifically describing how Adelson learned of and became involved in the fraud, the Government alleged that Adelson “unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly, made and caused to be made statements in reports and documents required to be filed with the SEC ... which ... were false and misleading with respect to material facts,” in violation of 15 U.S.C.

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Related

Russell v. United States
369 U.S. 749 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Hamling v. United States
418 U.S. 87 (Supreme Court, 1974)
United States v. Harry Bernstein
533 F.2d 775 (Second Circuit, 1976)
United States v. Nick Stavroulakis
952 F.2d 686 (Second Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Clarence Jones
16 F.3d 487 (Second Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Lorenzo Nichols, Howard Mason
56 F.3d 403 (Second Circuit, 1995)
Hathaway v. Coughlin
99 F.3d 550 (Second Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Donald E. Jacobs
117 F.3d 82 (Second Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Ruben Alfonso and Feli Gomez
143 F.3d 772 (Second Circuit, 1998)
United States v. John Walsh
194 F.3d 37 (Second Circuit, 1999)
Hudson v. New York City
271 F.3d 62 (Second Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Brian Michael Gall
446 F.3d 884 (Eighth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Adelson
441 F. Supp. 2d 506 (S.D. New York, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
237 F. App'x 713, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-adelson-ca2-2007.