United States v. Lacona

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJuly 1, 2026
Docket25-1033
StatusUnpublished

This text of United States v. Lacona (United States v. Lacona) 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. Lacona, (10th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

Appellate Case: 25-1033 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 07/01/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit

FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT July 1, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v. No. 25-1033 (D.C. No. 1:23-CR-00104-DDD-1) CHARLES JAMES LACONA, JR., (D. Colo.)

Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________

ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________

Before HOLMES, Chief Judge, BACHARACH and MORITZ, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

A jury convicted Charles Lacona of two counts of wire fraud in violation of 18

U.S.C. § 1343 and one count of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957.

He argues that the wire-fraud counts can’t stand because the government failed to

show the necessary interstate-commerce link and committed plain prosecutorial

misconduct. He also argues that one wire-fraud count and the money-laundering

count were constructively amended, requiring reversal.

Because we conclude (1) the government presented sufficient evidence of an

interstate-commerce connection to support the wire-fraud convictions, (2) the

This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines *

of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. But it may be cited for its persuasive value. Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A). Appellate Case: 25-1033 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 07/01/2026 Page: 2

government did not constructively amend any count, and (3) the prosecutor did not

commit misconduct, we affirm Lacona’s convictions.

Background

The government charged Lacona with two counts of wire fraud stemming from

a scheme to defraud the United States and TCF Bank by fraudulently obtaining

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans—and attempting to obtain Economic

Injury Disaster (EID) loans—on behalf of his Colorado company, National Financial

Services, Inc. (NFS). The indictment alleged that the scheme began in “at least April

2020[] and continu[ed] until at least April 2021,” comprising two successful PPP

applications filed with TCF on April 28, 2020, and January 19, 2021, and two

unsuccessful EID applications filed with the Small Business Administration (SBA)

between April and August 2020. R. vol. 1, 24. The indictment also charged Lacona

with one count of money laundering based on a Cadillac purchase worth more than

$10,000.

A jury found Lacona guilty of all three counts. After the verdict, Lacona

moved for acquittal, arguing that the government failed to prove the required

jurisdictional hook for wire fraud and money laundering because it never proved the

“loan funds” moved “across state lines” in the car purchase or the loan disbursement.

Id. at 718. He also argued that the government did not prove that the wire

transactions were part of an “ongoing scheme”; in his view, “[i]f the government

proved any scheme, it proved two separate schemes and impermissibly expanded the

scope of the [i]ndictment in doing so.” Id. at 722. He further argued that the

2 Appellate Case: 25-1033 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 07/01/2026 Page: 3

government failed to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [he] had actual

knowledge that the wires would be used in the ordinary course of business.” Id. at

726. And he requested acquittal on the money-laundering count on the basis that the

predicate wire-fraud counts had not been proven. The district court denied Lacona’s

acquittal motion, varied downward to impose 24 months in prison and three years of

supervised release, and ordered him to pay nearly $550,000 in restitution.

Lacona appeals.

Analysis

We begin with Lacona’s challenge to the sufficiency of the interstate-

commerce evidence. We then turn to his constructive-amendment arguments and

finally his prosecutorial-misconduct argument.

I. Sufficiency of Interstate-Commerce Evidence

Where, as here, a defendant raises a sufficiency argument in a motion after

trial and renews it on appeal, our review is de novo. United States v. Clark, 717 F.3d

790, 805 (10th Cir. 2013). “[E]vidence is sufficient to support a conviction so long as[,]

‘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.’” Cavazos v. Smith, 565 U.S. 1, 7 (2011) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S.

307, 319 (1979)).

Wire fraud occurs when an individual, “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

3 Appellate Case: 25-1033 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 07/01/2026 Page: 4

by means of wire . . . in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals,

pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice.” § 1343

(emphasis added). We have summarized this statutory language into three basic elements:

(1) a scheme to defraud or obtain property by falsities, (2) intent to defraud, and (3) an

interstate wire communication to carry out the scheme. United States v. Zander, 794 F.3d

1220, 1230–31 (10th Cir. 2015). Lacona focuses only on the third element, arguing that a

rational trier of fact could not find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he either transmitted

or caused to be transmitted an interstate wire communication.

To show interstate transmission, “the government must prove that the charged

‘communications actually crossed state lines.’” United States v. Baker, 155 F.4th 1188,

1202 (10th Cir. 2025) (cleaned up) (quoting United States v. Kieffer, 681 F.3d 1143, 1153

(10th Cir. 2012)). On this point, “an ‘individual’s use of the internet, standing alone, does

not establish an interstate transmission.’” Id. (cleaned up) (quoting Kieffer, 681 F.3d at

1155). In Baker, for example, the evidence indicated that the defendant used the internet

to modify Utah business records. Id. at 1190. But the mere fact that the government had

proven the Utah business-records website was publicly accessible across state lines was

not enough; instead, it had to show that the defendant’s communications when accessing

the site actually traveled across state lines. Id. at 1203. And we found insufficient

evidence on that point: it was entirely possible that “the servers used for the

communications relevant to [the] charge were ‘located in the same state as the computers

used to access the website.’” Id. (quoting Kieffer, 681 F.3d at 1155).

Here, however, the government presented specific evidence to show interstate

4 Appellate Case: 25-1033 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 07/01/2026 Page: 5

transmission. Specifically, the government proved at trial that the fees paid to TCF Bank

traveled across state lines. Indeed, Lacona concedes as much, noting that “[t]he

[g]overnment admittedly showed that the file for [TCF’s] processing fees moved across

state lines.” Aplt. Br. 16.

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