United States v. Ethan Jinian

712 F.3d 1255, 2013 WL 1198086, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 6008
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 26, 2013
Docket11-10593
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 712 F.3d 1255 (United States v. Ethan Jinian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Ethan Jinian, 712 F.3d 1255, 2013 WL 1198086, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 6008 (9th Cir. 2013).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge MURGUIA; Concurrence by Judge CHRISTEN.

OPINION

MURGUIA, Circuit Judge:

Ethan Farid Jinian was charged with fourteen counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 stemming from his scheme to defraud his employer. Jinian contends that the district court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal, a new trial, and for an arrest of judgment. Specifically, he argues that (1) routine transmissions occurring during the interbank collection process are not made for the purpose of executing a scheme to defraud or in furtherance thereof, (2) the jury should have been instructed that it was necessary to find that the interstate nature of the wire communications was reasonably likely or foreseeable, (3) there was insufficient evidence to establish that an interstate wire communication was reasonably foreseeable between two California banks, and (4) the wire fraud statute is unconstitutional as applied to him. We reject these arguments and affirm Jinian’s conviction and sentence.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

From 2004 until 2008, Jinian served as the chief executive officer (“CEO”) of Bric-snet FM America, Inc. (“Bricsnet”), a company that developed and sold software. As CEO, Jinian was authorized to spend Bricsnet monies to further its business operations and make executive and financial decisions. He was also responsible for reviewing the company’s daily expenditures. Bricsnet’s board of directors and a majority of its investors were located in Europe, enabling Jinian to control Bric-snet’s operations from the company’s San Francisco, California office with limited daily oversight.

In 2006, Jinian informed Leon Brown, Bricsnet’s finance manager, that the company’s chairman of the board of directors authorized Jinian to receive compensation in excess of his annual salary and to draw advances on that compensation. Unbeknownst to Brown, Jinian never received any such authorization. Nevertheless, Brown, in reliance upon Jinian’s representations, began issuing to Jinian checks from Bricsnet’s account at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California. Jinian deposited these checks into his account at Mechanics Bank in Hercules, California.

[1259]*1259Jinian instructed Brown to issue multiple, small-denomination checks instead of a single, lump-sum payment. Between November 2006 and September 2008, Jinian obtained from Brown nearly 100 checks, ranging in monthly amounts from $25,000 to over $60,000. The checks were issued regularly, some within days of each other. In total, Jinian improperly obtained over $1.5 million from Bricsnet.

Jinian was indicted on fourteen counts of wire fraud, which corresponded to fourteen Bricsnet checks Jinian deposited into his Mechanics Bank account. At trial, the government presented evidence showing that Mechanics Bank utilized the Federal Reserve Bank as an intermediary between it and Silicon Valley Bank to process the checks for payment. Howard Ng, an internal auditor for the Federal Reserve Bank, testified about the process through which checks were cleared. Ng explained that, when Jinian deposited a check into his Mechanics Bank account, Mechanics Bank sent an electronic image of the check via wire communication to the Federal Reserve Bank, which utilized an image server located in Dallas, Texas to sort and process the check. Once the check was processed in Dallas, Ng testified, the Federal Reserve Bank wired an image of the check to Silicon Valley Bank to be negotiated and paid. Ng testified that these wire communications facilitated the check clearing process by ensuring that the appropriate accounts were debited and credited.

At the close of the government’s case and the close of all evidence, Jinian moved, pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29, for a judgment of acquittal, arguing that the government failed to prove each element of wire fraud beyond a reasonable doubt. The district court denied Jinian’s motion, and the jury returned a guilty verdict on thirteen of fourteen counts charged in the indictment.

Following his conviction, Jinian renewed his motion for judgment of acquittal. Jini-an also moved for a new trial and for an arrest of judgment pursuant to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 33 and 34, respectively, arguing, among other things, that there was insufficient evidence that he knew — or knew it was reasonably likely— that interstate wires would be used to further the fraudulent scheme. The district court again denied Jinian’s motions and affirmed the jury’s convictions. It then sentenced Jinian to sixty-four months imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay restitution of $1,587,860.04.

Jinian timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a district court’s interpretation of a criminal statute, United States v. Dahl, 314 F.3d 976, 977 (9th Cir.2002), and denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, United States v. Anaya-Acosta, 629 F.3d 1091, 1093 (9th Cir.2011). Sufficient evidence to support a conviction exists if, “after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). We also review de novo whether the district court’s jury instructions adequately presented the defendant’s theory of the case and whether the district court presented the jury with every element of the crime. United States v. Knapp, 120 F.3d 928, 930 (9th Cir.1997). If the district court’s instructions fairly and adequately covered the elements of the offense, then we review the instruction’s “ ‘precise formulation’ for an abuse of discretion.” Id. Finally, we review de novo questions regarding the constitution[1260]*1260ality of a federal statute. United States v. Zakharov, 468 F.3d 1171, 1176 (9th Cir.2006).

III. DISCUSSION

The wire fraud statute criminalizes conduct by any person who, “having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, ... transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire ... communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice.... ” 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (2006). Section 1343, however, “does not purport to reach all frauds, but only those limited instances” wherein use of a wire “is a part of the execution of the fraud, leaving all other cases to be dealt with by appropriate state law.” Kann v. United States, 323 U.S. 88, 95, 65 S.Ct. 148, 89 L.Ed. 88 (1944).2

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Bluebook (online)
712 F.3d 1255, 2013 WL 1198086, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 6008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ethan-jinian-ca9-2013.