United States v. Boliaux

915 F.3d 493 (2019) United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 2019-02-12

criminal appeal from jury conviction on four counts of wire fraud (18 U.S.C. ยง 1343) and six of bank fraud; sufficiency challenge rejected by adopting the district court's Rule 29 analysis; duplicity/multiplicity arguments forfeited; affirmed (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    the evidence demonstrated that Boliaux obtained financing from lenders through materially false representations, and he perpetuated his scheme through the concealment of material facts.
  2. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Obtaining money through a scheme intended to cheat others is a crime whether or not it is also sloppy business or breach of contract.
  3. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    It suffices to note that Boliaux lied to obtain duplicate titles for cars that he knew were financed by one lender, and used the duplicate titles to obtain additional financing from a second lender-thereby compromising the security interests of both lenders.
  4. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Later, he forged lien releases purportedly from GMAC, and with those releases, obtained car titles that he used to secure more financing-thereby cheating those lenders by concealing GMAC's interests.
  5. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied proved
    In September 2008 Cindy Boliaux, then Edward's wife, incorporated Joliet Motors, which Edward operated from the premises formerly occupied by EMC.
  6. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied proved
    Joliet Motors received installment payments sent by the customers of EMC yet did not remit them to lenders.
  7. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied proved
    The evidence of Boliaux's supervision of Joliet Motors, and his involvement in the payment-processing system, was sufficient to make the wire transmissions a foreseeable consequence of his scheme.
  8. 6 Interstate or foreign transmission satisfied proved
    The charged wire transmissions traveled across state lines-from Joliet Motors in Illinois and routed through Pennsylvania or Ohio