United States v. Lebedev

932 F.3d 40 (2019) United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 2019-07-26

criminal appeal from jury conviction of wire fraud (18 U.S.C. ยง 1343), bank fraud and related conspiracy and corrupt-payment counts; Lebedev's sufficiency challenge rejected; affirmed (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Coin.mx opened bank accounts in the name of "the Collectables Club," which falsely purported to be a private members' association dedicated to collecting and exchanging memorabilia.
  2. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    One of Lebedev's responsibilities was to set up various Internet Protocol ("IP") addresses to make it appear to banks and payment processors that Coin.mx's transactions were legitimate Collectables Club transactions.
  3. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    The evidence also showed that Lebedev's role in Coin.mx's scheme was to disguise Coin.mx's Bitcoin transactions through front entities such as the Collectables Club, so the institutions processing those transactions would be more likely to process and approve them.
  4. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Accordingly, sufficient evidence supported Lebedev's convictions for wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud.
  5. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    "Since a defining feature of most property is the right to control the asset in question, we have recognized that the property interests protected by the ... wire fraud statute[ ] include the interest of a victim in controlling his or her own assets."
  6. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Heinrich testified that Chase decides whether to process pending credit card transactions based in part on information it receives about the merchant. Chase evaluates regulatory risk, including potential fines for doing business that is illegal, as well as economic risk posed by fraudulent transactions, and considers transactions with money services or money-transmitting businesses to carry a higher risk of fraud.
  7. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    The evidence at trial demonstrated that Coin.mx was a money service business that was both unlawful and carried a higher risk of fraudulent transactions.
  8. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    On this basis, a reasonable jury could conclude that Lebedev deprived the financial institutions of the right to control their assets by misrepresenting potentially valuable economic information.