United States v. Schlesinger

261 F. App'x 355
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 2008
DocketNos. 05-3021-cr, 05-5839-cr, 06-3551-cr, 06-3555-cr
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 261 F. App'x 355 (United States v. Schlesinger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Schlesinger, 261 F. App'x 355 (2d Cir. 2008).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendants-Appellants Nat Schlesinger and Goodmark Industries, Inc., appeal from judgments of conviction entered on August 4, 2006 and August 2, 2006, respectively, in the Eastern District of New York (Spatt, J.).

We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history, and the issues presented for review. Schlesinger was convicted on twenty-eight counts of mail fraud conspiracy, substantive mail and wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and substantive money laundering. Schlesinger was also convicted of arson in connection with a December 31, 1998 fire, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), and for the use of fire to commit a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(h)(1). Goodmark was convicted on twenty-two counts of mail and wire fraud conspiracy and substantive mail and wire fraud. In a separate opinion issued today, we decide one issue of forfeiture; the rest of the appellate issues are considered below.

1. The District Court allowed Schlesinger’s nephew to testify that he overheard Schlesinger’s son say to Schlesinger, soon after the 1998 fire, “job well done.” “Objections to admission of hearsay statements are reviewed for clear error.” United States v. Desena, 260 F.3d 150, 157 (2d Cir.2001).

The District Court reasoned that the statement was not hearsay, as it was a co-conspirator statement under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E). The District Court found, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a conspiracy existed between Schlesinger and his son to commit arson and to file a fraudulently-inflated [358]*358insurance claim, and that the son’s statement (“job well done”) was in furtherance of that conspiracy. That finding was not clearly erroneous.

As to the finding of a conspiracy, the son, a close relative, worked for the business at the premises that burned down, and the testimony is that the comment was made after the son saw the damage caused by the 1998 fire, as if the fire was a “happy thing.” Another witness, Israel Schwimmer, testified that he saw father and son together removing multiple bags of documents from the premises the day before the fire.

As to the finding that the comment was in furtherance of the conspiracy, the District Court explained that the statement itself appears to have been part of conspirators’ efforts to “inform each other as to the progress or status of the conspiracy,” and was therefore made in furtherance of that conspiracy. United States v. SKW Metals & Alloys, Inc., 195 F.3d 83, 88 (2d Cir.1999) (internal citation omitted). Functionally, the statement would assess the arson as suitable to support an inflated insurance claim, which was the next stage of the conspiracy.

2. Defendants argue that the indictment was duplicitous because Count One (alleging conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud) alleged multiple conspiracies in a single count, and because Counts Two through Twenty-One incorporate by reference the charging language of Count One. “[Ajcts that could be charged as separate counts of an indictment may instead be charged in a single count if those acts could be characterized as part of a single continuing scheme.” United States v. Tutino, 883 F.2d 1125, 1141 (2d Cir.1989).

Count One charged conspiracy to commit mail fraud by submitting inflated insurance claims for five fires at the same location. In effect, the indictment alleged that an ongoing business at that location was insurance fraud. United States v. Aracri, 968 F.2d 1512, 1522 (2d Cir.1992) (finding “ample evidence of a single conspiracy through which the name of the companies in a ‘daisy chain’ changed but the conspiracy's goal of avoiding taxes did not”). As to the incorporation by reference of the charging language of Count One into subsequent counts, that is expressly permitted. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(0(1).

3. Defendants argue that the superseding indictment should be dismissed (or alternatively, a new trial ordered) because the original indictment was under seal for seventeen months. Citing United States v. Deglomini, 111 F.Supp.2d 198 (E.D.N.Y.2000), Defendants contend that undue delay in unsealing an indictment should be considered per se unreasonable under the Sixth Amendment.

“[W]hen a sealed indictment has tolled the statute of limitations, the policy of repose underlying the statute demands that the Government unseal the indictment as soon as its legitimate need for delay has been satisfied.” United States v. Watson, 599 F.2d 1149, 1154 (2d Cir.1979); see also United States v. Srulowitz, 819 F.2d 37, 40 (2d Cir.1987) (“[W]hen the defendant can demonstrate substantial actual prejudice occurring between the date of sealing and the date of unsealing, the expiration of the limitations period before the latter event warrants dismissal of the indictment.”). But here, no statute of limitations ran while the original indictment was under seal, and the charges in the superseder were timely when it was unsealed. The prejudice cited here is that an alleged co-conspirator who died while the indictment was under seal “may have proven helpful at trial.” We need not decide whether this [359]*359event would be consequential if its effect were not speculative.

4. Schlesinger challenges the sufficiency of evidence to convict him of arson and the use of a fire to commit a felony. A defendant challenging the sufficiency of the evidence “bears a heavy burden.” United States v. Griffith, 284 F.3d 338, 348 (2d Cir.2002). “Not only must the evidence be viewed in the light most favorable to the government and all permissible inferences drawn in its favor, but if the evidence, thus construed, suffices to convince any rational trier of fact of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” the conviction must stand. United States v. Martinez, 54 F.3d 1040, 1042 (2d Cir.1995) (internal citations omitted).

“[C]rimes may be proven entirely by circumstantial evidence.” United States v. Sureff 15 F.3d 225, 228 (2d Cir.1994). Here, two investigators (an insurer’s expert and the New York City Fire Marshal) testified to them conclusions that the fire was set intentionally.

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Bluebook (online)
261 F. App'x 355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-schlesinger-ca2-2008.