United States v. Runner

143 F.4th 146 (2025) United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 2025-07-09

criminal appeal from jury convictions of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy in a mass-mailing psychic-services enterprise; challenges to the indictment, the sufficiency of the evidence and the jury instructions, all resting on the Second Circuit's intent-to-harm requirement, rejected after Kousisis; sentence affirmed (harmless error) (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    There was no psychic who had read the customers’ letters (or cashed their checks).
  2. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Instead of the assertedly rare and valuable objects advertised, customers received mass-produced trinkets.
  3. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Thus, contrary to cases in which we have said otherwise, “a defendant commits federal fraud whenever he uses a material misstatement to trick a victim into a contract that requires handing over her money or property.” Id. at 1388.
  4. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    In fact, all of Runner’s psychic promotions lied about whom the letters were from.
  5. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    This evidence allowed the jury to conclude that Runner had used these letters to lie “intentionally . . . to induce” potential customers “into a transaction that [would] cost [them] money”—in other words, that he fraudulently induced his customers.
  6. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    He emphasizes evidence indicating that many of his customers were repeat purchasers.
  7. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    As a result, we break no new ground by affirming that Runner’s lies could support convictions under the mail and wire fraud statutes.
  8. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    In reality, the crystals were purchased from PartyMart (a bulk goods store) and came from China.
  9. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    The Government introduced sufficient evidence to prove that DMC—led by Runner— advertised goods and services it never planned to deliver, and otherwise intentionally lied to trick customers into paying money.
  10. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    No more was needed for the jury to find fraudulent intent.
  11. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    True, PartyMart itself advertised these rings as “Ring of Re with Genuine Sapphire.”
  12. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    A jury can find a defendant acted with fraudulent intent if it finds “there exists a discrepancy between benefits reasonably anticipated because of the misleading representations and the actual benefits which the defendant delivered, or intended to deliver.”
  13. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    But after the customer paid $45 and DMC had received the “precious parchments,” no one at DMC did anything— not Guerin nor any other psychic.
  14. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    The jury heard that some were written by copywriters, and many were written by Runner himself.
  15. 4 Knowing participation with intent to defraud satisfied proved
    But as the Supreme Court clarified in Kousisis, securing a conviction under the mail or wire fraud statutes does not require proof that the scheme intended net economic loss.
  16. 5 Statutory mailing or carrier act satisfied conceded
    So, for about two decades, DMC mailed around one-hundred different promotions to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States and Canada.