United States v. Don C. Davis, United States of America v. Daniel M. Burke

953 F.2d 1482, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 599
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 22, 1992
Docket89-8051, 89-8052, 90-8057, 90-8058
StatusPublished
Cited by84 cases

This text of 953 F.2d 1482 (United States v. Don C. Davis, United States of America v. Daniel M. Burke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Don C. Davis, United States of America v. Daniel M. Burke, 953 F.2d 1482, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 599 (10th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the theft of federally insured deposits through a series of complicated financial transactions involving collusion, deception, self-dealing and conflict of interest. Defendants Don C. Davis and Daniel M. Burke diverted or misapplied millions of dollars at the expense of several banks and savings and loan institutions, and ultimately the United States treasury. 1 The fraud required false representations to, and the concealing of important information from, bank examiners, bank directors and bank officers.

By superseding indictment, both defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against and to defraud the United States (count 1), 18 U.S.C. § 371; nine counts of wire fraud (counts 2-10), 18 U.S.C. § 1343; five counts of misapplying federally insured funds (counts 11-14, 16), 18 U.S.C. § 657; three counts of making false entries in bank books and records or unlawful receipt of benefits (counts 15, 20 & 21), 18 U.S.C. § 1006. Davis also was charged in two counts of overvaluing security and making false statements (counts 18 & 19), 18 U.S.C. § 1014. After a ten-week trial in which the trial judge displayed consummate patience, the jury convicted Davis on fourteen counts including the conspiracy count (count 1), five counts of wire fraud (counts 3-6, 9), four counts of misapplying federally insured funds (counts 11-13, 16), two counts of aiding and abetting false entries (counts 15 & 21), one count of aiding and abetting in the unlawful receipt of benefits (count 20), and one count of overvaluing security (count 18). The jury convicted Burke on eleven counts, including the conspiracy count (count 1), three counts of wire fraud (counts 4-6), four counts of misapplying federally insured funds (counts 11,12,14 & 16) two counts of making false entries (count 15 & 21) and one count of unlawfully receiving benefits (count 20). The district court, for these pre-Sentencing Guidelines offenses, sentenced Davis to six years imprisonment and Burke to four years. These appeals followed.

After submission of these appeals, we affirmed the imposition of civil monetary penalties against defendants based on violations of cease and desist orders of the Federal Reserve Board. Burke v. Board of Governors, 940 F.2d 1360 (10th Cir.1991). Burke died on December 6, 1991. Thereafter, the government filed a suggestion of death. Burke’s counsel, on behalf of the family, opposed dismissal, seeking an appellate decision on the merits. We respect the wishes of the family, but the law provides a more advantageous resolution: “death pending direct review of a criminal conviction abates not only the appeal but also all proceedings had in the prosecution from its inception.” See Durham v. United States, 401 U.S. 481, 483, 91 S.Ct. 858, 860, 28 L.Ed.2d 200 (1971) (per curiam) (footnote omitted), overruled on other grounds, Dove v. United States, 423 U.S. 325, 96 S.Ct. 579, 46 L.Ed.2d 531 (1976) (per curiam) (eliminating Durham rule for petitions for certiorari, but not for appeals of right). See also United States v. Williams, 874 F.2d 968, 970 (5th Cir.1989); United States v. Schumann, 861 F.2d 1234, 1236 (11th Cir.1988); United States v. Mollica, 849 F.2d 723, 725-26 (2d Cir.1988); United States v. Littlefield, 594 F.2d 682, 683 (8th Cir.1979); United States v. Bechtel, 547 F.2d 1379, 1380 (9th Cir.1977). Accordingly, as to Burke, we shall dismiss his appeal and remand the criminal judgment against him to the district court with instructions to vacate the judgment and dismiss the underlying indictment. See Id.

I.

The government’s case involved five transactions. We briefly outline these *1487 transactions before reaching the merits of Davis’s appeal.

A.Acquisition of FNBE

The first transaction involved the acquisition of the First National Bank of Evans-ton, Wyoming (FNBE) by EVCO, Inc., a bank holding company, by a group of investors. Defendants Burke, Davis and Edmi-ston, see supra n. 1, first sought to acquire FNBE in 1982. All were well connected with other federally insured financial institutions. Davis was a major stockholder, board chairman and president of the Stock-grower’s State Bank Company (SSBC), the bank holding company which owned Stock-grower’s State Bank (SSB). Likewise, Ed-miston was a stockholder and board member of SSBC. Burke was a board member of Guaranty Federal Bank (GFB).

Ultimately, the Federal Reserve Bank approved a $10 million acquisition of FNBE by a different investor group (the Burke group) with no more than a 3:1 debt-to-equity ratio ($7.5 million of debt) and no involvement of Davis and coinvestor Robert L. Anderson. Based on a series of false representations by Davis and Burke, however, the acquisition was financed for $12.5 million by Omaha National Bank, SSB, GFB and Provident Federal Bank. With the assistance of Burke, Davis directed the wire transfer of over $2 million for uses unrelated to the acquisition of FNBE. A total of $3.1 million of the acquisition funding was diverted to Davis and Anderson.

B.GFB Purchase of Bank Holding Company Securities

GFB, and its wholly owned subsidiary Powder River Service Corp. (PRSC), purchased $1.5 million in subordinated debentures and $1 million in preferred stock issued by EVCO and another bank holding company, SSBC. Burke and Davis exercised control of GFB as part of a group which had majority stock ownership. While Burke served as a director, Davis frequently gave financial advice to the board and attended several GFB board meetings. Burke and Davis were instrumental in persuading GFB’s president, Tom Hogan, to purchase these securities. See X Tr. 60. The proceeds were to enable EVCO and SSBC to activate Wyoming Financial Services (WFS), a recently formed corporation. In reality, WFS served as a conduit to funnel approximately $701,000 to Davis and $54,000 to Burke. See XII Tr. 100-11.

C.Elkhorn Land Deal

In May 1984, a limited partnership, in which PRSC had an 84% interest, purchased land owned by the Elkhorn Land and Livestock Company. Burke and Davis persuaded the GFB Board to fund PRSC’s participation in the amount of $1.65 million, with the understanding that the proceeds would be used to pay existing indebtedness on the land. Only $1.15 million was used for that purpose; Davis received the remaining $500,000 as a secret commission. Several months later, Burke and Davis had GFB’s attorney prepare a “clarifying” minute entry indicating that the commission had been authorized by the GFB board when, in fact, it had not. See PI. ex.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
953 F.2d 1482, 1992 U.S. App. LEXIS 599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-don-c-davis-united-states-of-america-v-daniel-m-burke-ca10-1992.