United States v. Harris

919 F. Supp. 2d 702, 2013 WL 325619, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11892
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJanuary 29, 2013
DocketCriminal No. 3:12CR170
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 919 F. Supp. 2d 702 (United States v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Harris, 919 F. Supp. 2d 702, 2013 WL 325619, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11892 (E.D. Va. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(Granting Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss)

HENRY E. HUDSON, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 22), filed on December 12, 2012. Both parties have filed detailed memoranda supporting their respective positions. The Court heard argument and orally issued its ruling on the Motion on January 15, 2013. For the reasons stated below, the Motion was granted.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 15, 2012, an indictment was returned charging Michael F. Harris (“Harris”) with: four counts of securities fraud, in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a); three counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343; and one count of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341. All of these charges arise from the alleged fraudulent investment scheme outlined below.1

Harris was the President and majority shareholder of M.F. Harris Research, Inc. (“MFH”). Harris purportedly formed MFH to develop a treatment for HIV/ AIDS. The proposed treatment involved the use of hyperbaric chambers to inhibit the virus.

Over a six-year period, ending in July 2011, Harris made several misrepresentations to potential investors to induce them to purchase MFH stock. Harris told investors that he would use the solicited funds to develop patents and to conduct human trials. Harris sold the shares at a price of one dollar per share, promising potential returns of 10 to 20 times the investment. While Harris represented to his investors that he was using their funds for legitimate purposes, Harris diverted the majority of the funds to his own use.

The instant Motion to Dismiss only concerns Counts One and Two, both of which allege securities fraud violations. Count One pertains to conduct beginning around August 2006. At that time, Harris made material false representations and omissions in the offer and sale of MFH stock to T.M.2 On October 3, 2006, T.M. wire transferred $200,000 to MFH to purchase MFH stock. No stock certificates were delivered, but Harris did use $85,000 toward the purchase of a house in Luray, Virginia. T.M. passed away, and his brother, J.M., became the executor of T.M.’s estate. Unable to locate the MFH stock certificates, in late 2007 and early 2008, J.M. attempted [704]*704to obtain the certificates and information about the investment. On March 12, 2008, Harris responded by email that the shares were nontransferable and failed to provide the requested information. Only after J.M. filed a lawsuit did Harris finally deliver the MFH stock on February 4, 2010.

Count Two addresses similar conduct affecting a second victim. Around June 20,'2007, Harris made material false representations and omissions which induced D.W. to purchase $10,000 of MFH stock by personal check. On September 27, 2007, D.W. wire transferred another $10,000 to purchase additional MFH shares. Harris issued a portion of the shares for the second sale on the date of purchase and then issued the balance of the shares on October 15, 2007.3

II. DISCUSSION

Harris seeks dismissal of Counts One and Two on the same grounds, asserting that the five-year statute of limitations set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3282 has run. His argument begins by restating the time-honored maxim that “criminal limitations statutes are to be liberally interpreted in favor of repose.... ” Toussie v. United States, 397 U.S. 112, 115, 90 S.Ct. 858, 25 L.Ed.2d 156 (1970) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted). Armed with this guiding principle, Harris asserts that securities fraud, as codified in 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a), is complete at the time of the offer or sale of a security and does not include delivery of the security or post-sale misrepresentations or omissions made. Because the offense was completé at the time of sale, Harris argues, the limitations period in the immediate case began to run when the victims paid for the securities.

The Government advances two arguments in response. The Government urges the Court to adopt a broad construction of sale, extending the term to encompass the alleged post-sale conduct. In the alternative, the Government contends that the post-sale conduct is included because the offense described in § 77q(a) constitutes a continuing offense. For the reasons set forth below, the Court agrees with Harris.

A. The Completion of a Sale Does Not Require Delivery

Harris is charged under 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a), which provides:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person in the offer or sale of any securities ... by the use of any means or instruments of transportation or communication in interstate commerce or by use of the mails, directly or indirectly—
(1) to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud, or
(2) to obtain money or property by means of any untrue statement of a material fact or any omission to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; or
(3) to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon the purchaser.

[705]*705Three basic elements comprise the offense: (1) fraud by any of the means identified in subsections (a)(1)-(3), (2) using any means or instruments of interstate commerce or the mails, and (3) occurring in the offer or sale of a security.

“To satisfy the statute of limitations, an indictment for ... securities fraud must be brought within five years of the crime,” and “[t]he limitations period begins to run when the crime is complete.” United States v. United Medical & Surgical Supply Corp., 989 F.2d 1390, 1398 (4th Cir.1993) (citations omitted). A crime is complete when each element of the crime has occurred. Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit held that “securities fraud is not complete, and the statute of limitations does not begin to run, until the sale of the security....” Id. However, United Medical did not specify the requirements for a completed sale. For the purposes of § 77q(a), “[t]he term sale ... include[s] every contract of sale or disposition of a security or interest in a security, for value,” 15 U.S.C. § 77b(a)(3), but this statutory definition is frustratingly broad and lacking in specificity.

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919 F. Supp. 2d 702, 2013 WL 325619, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11892, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harris-vaed-2013.