United States v. Elbaz

332 F. Supp. 3d 960
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedSeptember 7, 2018
DocketCriminal Action No. TDC-18-0157
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 332 F. Supp. 3d 960 (United States v. Elbaz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Elbaz, 332 F. Supp. 3d 960 (D. Md. 2018).

Opinion

THEODORE D. CHUANG, United States District Judge

Defendant Lee Elbaz is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349, and three counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 and 2. Presently pending before the Court are four Motions to Dismiss filed by Elbaz in which she argues that the Indictment fails to state an offense, the charged offenses are improperly based on extraterritorial conduct, the conspiracy charge exceeds Congress's power under the Commerce Clause to criminalize a foreign conspiracy, and the Indictment fails to allege proper venue in the District of Maryland. Elbaz has also filed a Motion to Strike Paragraph 10 of the Indictment and a Motion, in the Alternative, for a Bill of Particulars. After briefing, the Court held a hearing on all six Motions on July 30, 2018. For the reasons set forth below, the Motions to Dismiss are denied, the Motion to Strike is denied, and the Motion for a Bill of Particulars is granted in part and denied in part.

BACKGROUND

The Indictment alleges the following facts, which the Court accepts as true for purposes of the Motions.

*967Elbaz, a resident of Israel, was the Chief Executive Officer of Yukom Communications, an Israel-based business that provided sales and marketing services for two internet-based businesses with the brand names BinaryBook and BigOption ("the Companies"). BinaryBook and BigOption sell financial instruments known as "binary options," consisting of bets on the outcome of a particular event, that result in the payment of either a pre-determined amount of money or nothing. Indictment ¶ 9, ECF No. 37. Elbaz identified herself as the "Trading Floor Manager" for BinaryBook and BigOption. Id. ¶ 7.

Count One of the Indictment charges Elbaz with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The fraud was allegedly perpetrated in several ways. Sales representatives of the Companies ("Representatives") would misrepresent their personal financial incentives to investors by stating that they were paid a commission based on investor profit, when in fact they were paid a commission based on investor deposits. The Indictment alleges that Elbaz trained and encouraged Representatives to make such claims.

Representatives also misrepresented the average investment return on binary options. Representatives were given a script that included false statements such as that investor returns averaged 15-25 percent per month and that there was an average success rate of 70 percent. Elbaz allegedly trained and encouraged employees of the Companies to make such misrepresentations.

Furthermore, Representatives, following scripts provided by Elbaz, made false statements about their educational background, claiming to have a master's degree in economics; their location, stating that they were in London; and their names, using "stage names" or other aliases. Elbaz allegedly trained and encouraged Representatives to make such statements and personally approved the stage names.

The Indictment also alleges that Representatives misstated to investors how easy it was for investors to withdraw their funds. When an investor sought to withdraw funds, the Representatives instead offered the investor an "Academy" class that was purportedly designed to improve trading performance, but did not, in fact, do so. Id. ¶ 34. Elbaz allegedly trained and encouraged employees to make misrepresentations that funds could be withdrawn easily.

Finally, Representatives did not disclose material information about various proposed investment terms, including "bonuses," "risk free trades," and "insured trades." Id. ¶¶ 36-39. Although these terms implied that investors would receive additional money or decreased risk, these tools were actually mechanisms used to make it more difficult to withdraw deposits. Elbaz allegedly trained and encouraged employees to make misrepresentations about the ability to withdraw funds invested in these instruments.

Counts Two, Three, and Four charge Elbaz with three counts of wire fraud. In these counts, the Indictment charges that on three separate occasions, Elbaz caused, or aided and abetted, the sending of wire transmissions from Representatives to victims in Maryland for the purpose of executing a scheme to defraud. The Indictment identifies three Maryland victims through pseudonyms as Victims A, B, and C, and it provides specific dates on which a Representative of BinaryBook or BigOption communicated with the victim through a wire transmission.

DISCUSSION

The Court will first address Elbaz's Motions to Dismiss, then consider the Motion *968to Strike, and finally examine the Motion for a Bill of Particulars.

I. Motions to Dismiss

A. Legal Standard

Elbaz has been charged in Counts Two, Three, and Four with substantive counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, which states:

Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

18 U.S.C. § 1343 (2012). Elbaz is also charged with aiding and abetting these offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 2

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Bluebook (online)
332 F. Supp. 3d 960, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-elbaz-mdd-2018.