(California Court of Appeal) - Vacated in part. Defendant was convicted of multiple lewd acts upon a child. Defendant argued that the evidence did not support part of the conviction and his sentence is unconstitutional. The appeals court agreed that the evidence supported only two lewd acts on each victim and that his sentence was unconstitutionally excessive.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Vacated and remanded. A two-level enhancement of the sentence in the case of a man convicted on marijuana charges was not supported by the evidence.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. Even if an attorney's failure to object to a question about his immigration status during a murder trial had been ineffectual assistance it was not prejudicial.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Juvenile defendant, R.C., a high school student, used his cellphone to record a video while he was having consensual sex with a female high school student. She did not give permission. She requested that it be deleted. R.C. agreed to delete it if she would have sex with his friend. The Juvenile Court found that R.C. had committed an unauthorized invasion of privacy. R.C. argues that there was insufficient evidence that the cellphone was concealed as required by Penal Code 647. The appeals court offered an interpretation of “concealed” that include not telling about the intention to video record and keeping the cellphone hidden from sight, even though he later announced he was recording.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed conviction. Remanded for sentencing. Defendant was convicted of several crimes including kidnapping with intent to commit a sex offense. The trial court found certain sentence enhancement applied. The appeals court affirmed the judgment, but found several sentencing errors.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reversed. The panel held that, in the context of the restitution statute, “period of incarceration” does not include pretrial detention. The district court’s order to seize funds in the defendant’s inmate trust account is reversed.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirmed. A motion to correct a 1996 sentence as a career offender was not timely because the motion asserts a right not recognized in caselaw.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed. Different charges involved in a nested set of charges were divisible and a jury could find the accused guilty of the underlying Hobbs Act robberies.

(California Court of Appeal) - Reversed and remand for new trial. Defendant is a sexually violent predator who is currently receiving treatment at a state mental hospital. He challenged the court order denying his petition to be placed in a conditional release program on the grounds that he was denied a fair trial. The appeals court agreed stating that the prosecutor interfered with Defendant’s right to testify and the trial court erroneously refused to admit his release plan into evidence. The appeals court held that a fair trial is a fundamental right.

(California Court of Appeal) - Appeal dismissed. Defendant pled no contest to identity theft. She was sentenced to county jail and the court imposed various fees and assessments. Defendant challenged the fees and assessments but claimed no error at trial or at the time of sentencing as required by Penal Code 1237.2. Therefore, the appeal must be dismissed

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed, remanded for resentencing. Because defendant’s letter describing his allegiance to the Islamic State was never translated or otherwise communicated to his wife, the marital communication privilege does not apply.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Finding the crime described in Article 129 of South Korea’s Criminal Code fits squarely within the definition of “bribing a public official” from 18 U.S.C. Section 1956, the indictment was sufficient and there was no instructional error.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. The application of two sentencing enhancements in the case of a person who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud was not a procedural error.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. A Texas bank robbery was properly considered a crime of violence and it was a second or subsequent offense in relation to an attempt made two days earlier.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Defendant was convicted of vehicular manslaughter. Defendant challenged the judgment contending that the jury received confusing and conflicting instructions. The appeals court held that if any error occurred it was harmless.

(California Court of Appeal) - Vacated conviction. Defendant was sentenced to life without parole for the conviction of a murder in 1986. He petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus asserting that newly available DNA evidence shows that he was not at the scene of the crime.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed in part, vacated in part. Defendant challenged his conviction for using firearms in the commission of violent crimes. Because categorizing crimes of violence cannot be done on a case-by-case basis, the defendant’s charge for using firearms in the commission of a robbery is vacated.

(United States Third Circuit) - Sentence for conviction of securities fraud, 15 U.S.C. section 78j(b), and tax evasion, 26 U.S.C. section 7201, is affirmed where: 1) despite defendant's failure to register as such, he was an 'investment adviser,' as defined by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, 15 U.S.C. section 80b-2(a)(11), and the District Court therefore properly applied the investment advisor enhancement under U.S.S.G. section 2B1.1(b)(19)(A)(iii); 2) the Government did not breach the plea agreement; and 3) the sentence is not substantively unreasonable.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Conviction for conspiracy and obstruction of justice resulting from earnings mismanagement, improper accounting related to the sale and lease back of homes, and the deletion of emails following a grand jury subpoena is affirmed where: 1) the district court's exclusion of certain evidence related to why defendant deleted emails was not in error; 2) the district court did not err is denying defendant's motion for a mistrial on evidentiary and trial conduct grounds; and 3) the district court's method of determining the loss amount from defendant's fraud was correct.

(United States First Circuit) - Conviction for bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. section 1344 is affirmed where defendant was aware that Countrywide Bank, FSB was involved in approving the loan he sought to obtain through fraud, and so possessed the specific intent to defraud a financial institution required by the statute.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a case in which defendant was found liable for securities laws violations sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. sections 77e, 77q(a), section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. section 78j(b), and Rule 10b-5 there under, 17 C.F.R. section 240.10b-5, in connection with false opinion letters defendant wrote or approved to enable impermissible public offerings of unregistered shares of stock of defendant, the district court's grant of summary judgment to the SEC is affirmed over defendant's principal contention that the district court erred in ruling that there was no genuine issue to be tried as to his knowledge of the falsity of the letters.

(United States Supreme Court) - In a case involving the tipper and tippee liability provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Rule 10b-5, defendant's conviction of federal securities-fraud crimes for trading on inside information he received from a friend and relative-by-marriage, is affirmed where: 1) the Ninth Circuit properly applied Dirks v. SEC, 463 U.S. 646, to affirm defendant's conviction; and 2) under Dirks, the jury could infer that the tipper here personally benefited from making a gift of confidential information to a trading relative.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a criminal action, the district court's grant in part of defendant's motion is affirmed where evidence of uncharged transactions are not evidence of 'other' crimes under Rule 404(b), but rather evidence of a scheme to defraud that is the first element of wire fraud.

(United States Second Circuit) - Sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to defrauding investors in a sham diamond company are vacated and remanded where the district court erred in applying sentencing enhancements for (1) receiving gross receipts in excess of $1 million from a financial institution under U.S.S.G. section 2B1.1(b)(A); and (2) for abusing a position of trust pursuant to U.S.S.G. section 3B1.3. Conviction otherwise affirmed.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Convictions arising from the capitalization and operation of real estate development business are affirmed where there is not a reversible plain error. The jury instruction error in this case was not 'clear and obvious' because it was not clearly required by precedent, and the error did not affect the outcome of the proceedings.

(California Court of Appeal) - In the People's appeal pursuant to Penal Code section 1238(a)(1), challenging the trial court's order to set aside certain counts of charges against defendant for using false statements in the offer or sale of a security, Corp. Code sections 25401, 25540(b), after defendant persuaded an acquaintance to invest in a real estate development opportunity in Idaho in return for a promissory note, the terms of which were amended and extended several times but never realized, the trial court's order is affirmed where the promissory notes offered for the investment in the real estate development scheme were not securities within the meaning of the Corporate Securities Law.

(United States First Circuit) - Conviction of illegal insider trading, after defendant received material, nonpublic information about a local bank from a fellow country club member and then used that information to make a substantial trading profit, is affirmed over defendant's claims that the government presented insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict, and that the trial court's instructions allowed the jury to convict him without finding that he possessed the necessary mental state, as required by 15 U.S.C. section 78ff(a).

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a whistleblower claim brought under the Dodd-Frank Act’s anti-retaliation provision, the district court's denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss is affirmed where, in using the term 'whistleblower,' Congress did not intend to limit protections to those who disclose information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Rather, the anti-retaliation provision also protects those who were fired after making internal disclosures of alleged unlawful activity under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other laws, rules, and regulations.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an issue of first impression involving the Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to disgorge ill-gotten funds from so-called 'relief defendants', the district court's final judgment, arising in connection with the SEC's enforcement action for federal securities law violations arising out of a fraudulent investment scheme, is affirmed where: 1) the district court properly asserted jurisdiction over appellants as relief defendants to determine the legal and factual legitimacy of appellants' claim to the $5 million; and 2) the district court did not clearly err in finding that the $5 million transfer as a loan was a sham.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Sentence and conviction of various offenses arising from his leadership of schemes, wherein fraud was systematically utilized to keep his real estate empire afloat, are affirmed over defendant's claims that the prosecution presented insufficient evidence of the crimes alleged, that the trial court gave the jury an erroneous and prejudicial willful blindness instruction, and that his aggregate sentence of 216 months is substantively unreasonable.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a civil enforcement action brought by the State of California against appellants for violation of the unfair competition laws (UCL), Bus. & Prof. Code section 17200 et seq., arising out of a complex real estate scam through which appellants acquired and rented real estate belonging to others, the trial court's judgment and award of damages in favor of the People is affirmed over defendants' six arguments on appeal.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a suit brought by a consulting firm specializing in fighting government corruption against a Venezuelan energy company, alleging plaintiffs were victims of an effort to discredit them by persons connected to a Venezuelan energy company that was in litigation with one of plaintiff's clients, the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's RICO and state law claims against the principals of the Venezuelan energy company is affirmed where dismissal of the RICO claims under Rule 12(b)(6) was proper because plaintiff failed to allege that the defendants engaged in a 'pattern of racketeering activity.'

(United States Supreme Court) - In a case arising out of an SEC enforcement action, alleging that petitioner violated various securities laws by concealing the misappropriation of money from business-development companies, and seeking monetary civil penalties, disgorgement, and an injunction barring petitioner from future violations, the Tenth Circuit's judgment -- that 28 U.S.C. section 2462's 5-year limitations period applied to the monetary civil penalties but that section 2462 did not apply because disgorgement was neither a penalty nor a forfeiture -- is reversed, where because SEC disgorgement operates as a penalty under section 2462, any claim for disgorgement in an SEC enforcement action must be commenced within five years of the date the claim accrued.

(California Court of Appeal) - In an action seeking a writ of mandate ordering the trial court to vacate its finding that a law firm should be deemed part of the 'prosecution team' prosecuting defendant/real party in interest for embezzlement, and granting defendant's motion ordering the law firm to disclose material, exculpatory evidence in its possession in accordance with Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83, the relief is granted where the trial court erred in: 1) imposing a duty under Brady to disclose material, exculpatory evidence directly on the law firm, as opposed to on the prosecution; and 2) in finding the law firm to be part of the prosecution team.

(United States First Circuit) - In a suit brought under a Puerto Rico 'Law 458', which prohibits government instrumentalities and public corporations from awarding bids or contracts to persons (including juridical persons) who have been convicted of 'crimes that constitute fraud, embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds listed in section 928b of this title,' P.R. Laws Ann. tit. 3, section 928, the district court's judgment remanding the case to the Commonwealth Puerto Rico Court of First Instance is affirmed where the forum selection clauses at issue were enforceable, and that the unanimity requirement of 28 U.S.C. section 1446(b)(2)(A) therefore could not be satisfied.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a suit brought by a group of hotel-related businesses, along with their investor and guarantors, alleging fraud claims against a bank and its subsidiaries, the district court's dismissal of the fraud claims is affirmed where the because plaintiffs failed to list their cause of action in a schedule of assets in their now-concluded bankruptcy proceeding, they are barred on judicial estoppel and timeliness grounds.

(United States Second Circuit) - Conviction for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud are affirmed where over defendant's argument that disclaimers of extra-contract representations did not render salespeople's oral misrepresentations immaterial.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reversing the district court's dismissal of claims under the False Claims Act by realtors against their former employer who made false statements about its compliance with FDA regulations regarding certain HIV drugs resulting in the receipt of billions of dollars from the federal government and alleging retaliation against the complaining realtor, holding that the realtors adequately pled a claim for retaliation.

(United States Second Circuit) - Denying the appeal of a judge convicted of 21 counts of public-corruption-related offenses, finding that subsequent decisions narrowing the interpretation of an 'official act' within the meaning of the federal bribery statute did not result in a plain error in the district court's instructions at trial.

(United States Second Circuit) - Vacating and remanding the conviction of Sheldon Silver, former Speaker of the NY State Assembly for fraud, extortion, and money laundering, holding that the Supreme Court's decision in McDonnell rendered the district court's instructions on honest services fraud and extortion erroneous in light of McDonnell, but rejecting challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence overall.

(United States Third Circuit) - Affirming judgments of conviction, forfeiture, and sentencing based on violations of the RICO Act and federal wire fraud statutes arising from payments received in exchange for recommending to officials in towns to hire the bribing firm because New Jersey's bribery statute is not unconstitutionally vague and did not present issues with federalism.

(United States Third Circuit) - Affirming the district court's findings regarding the number of victims of a multi-million dollar real estate Ponzi scheme who suffered substantial financial hardship as defined by the US Sentencing Guidelines, but vacating and remanding because the court erred in imposing the five-year occupational restriction on his three-year term of supervised release because it exceeded the statutory maximum.

(United States Second Circuit) - Modifying orders relating to the conviction of a man for multiple counts of securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and tax offenses because the convict's death resulted in the abatement of the counts of conviction, forfeiture, fine, special assessment , and restitution for offenses contested at trail, but the forfeiture of a bail bond did not abate, nor did the convictions and order of restitution imposed on tax counts.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirming the district court's denial of a securities lawyer's novel argument that two former stockbrokers for whom he produced false opinion letters in connection to a pump and dump scheme fell into the safe harbor provision of securities law because the stockbrokers were affiliates of the issuing company and ineligible for safe harbor and other procedural complaints were ill-founded.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a Bivens action, brought against defendant FBI agents and federal prosecutors for alleged constitutional violations in searching plaintiff investment fund owner's Manhattan offices, the district court's denial of qualified immunity is reversed where a corrected search warrant affidavit would have supported probable cause, the corrected warrant would have issued, and plaintiff cannot plead defendants' actions caused him preventable constitutional harm.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Husband and wife's convictions for health care fraud and conspiracy to engage in health care fraud under 18 U.S.C. sections 1347 and 1349, arising from a scheme to give insured patients repeated, unnecessary urine tests, are affirmed where: 1) materiality constitutes an element of the convicted offenses; and 2) even if the district court failed to consider materiality, the error was harmless.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirming the convictions and sentence of a man for conspiracy to convert government funds, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and fourteen counts of conversion of government property in the case of a man who used bank accounts he owned or controlled in order to negotiate fraudulently obtained tax refund checks.

(United States Third Circuit) - Affirming a district court denial of a motion to dismiss charges against a former US Virgin Islands senator accused of violating two criminal statutes who argued that legislative immunity barred his prosecution because although the immunity protects legislators from suit for any speech or debate in legislature the alleged wire fraud and embezzlement crimes were not legislative conduct.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Vacating and remanding the district court's finding that defendant did not face ineffective assistance of counsel where his attorney failed to raise a significant and obvious issue on appeal of his conviction for money laundering and fraudulent investment crimes. The issue would likely have resulted in a reversal of his money laundering conviction and the Fourth Circuit remanded for further proceedings.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed an investment promoter's conviction of mail and wire fraud and other offenses, but vacated and remanded for resentencing. On appeal, the defendant contended that the trial judge had misinstructed the jury on the elements of the crimes and also challenged the two-level organizer sentencing enhancement. The Ninth Circuit rejected his arguments concerning the jury instructions but vacated his 87-month prison sentence and the restitution order and remanded for further proceedings.