Pasquantino v. United States

544 U.S. 349 (2005) Supreme Court of the United States 2005-04-26

criminal; jury convictions for wire fraud (scheme to smuggle liquor into Canada without paying Canadian excise taxes); motion to dismiss indictment denied; CA4 panel reversed, en banc CA4 affirmed; certiorari on whether a plot to defraud a foreign government of tax revenue violates 1343 (result: claimant-won)

Facts

  1. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    They employed Hilts and others to drive the liquor over the Canadian border, without paying the required excise taxes.
  2. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    The drivers avoided paying taxes by hiding the liquor in their vehicles and failing to declare the goods to Canadian customs officials.
  3. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    The evidence showed that petitioners routinely concealed imported liquor from Canadian officials and failed to declare those goods on customs forms.
  4. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    This, then, was a scheme “designed to defraud by representations,” Durland v. United States, 161 U. S. 306, 313 (1896), and therefore a “scheme or artifice to defraud” Canada of taxes due on the smuggled goods.
  5. 1 Scheme or artifice to defraud satisfied proved
    Their offense was complete the moment they executed the scheme inside the United States; “[t]he wire fraud statute punishes the scheme, not its success.”
  6. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Uncontested evidence at trial showed that Canadian taxes then due on alcohol purchased in the United States and transported to Canada were approximately double the liquor’s purchase. price.
  7. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Taking the latter element first, Canada’s right to uncollected excise taxes on the liquor petitioners imported into Canada is “property” in its hands.
  8. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Valuable entitlements like these are “property” as that term ordinarily is employed.
  9. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Had petitioners complied with this legal obligation, they would have paid money to Canada.
  10. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    The right to be paid money has long been thought to be a species of property.
  11. 2 Traditional money or property as an object satisfied proved
    Here, by contrast, the Government alleged and proved that petitioners’ scheme aimed at depriving Canada of money to which it was entitled by law.
  12. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied conceded
    According to the evidence presented at trial, the Pasquantinos, while in New York, ordered liquor over the telephone from discount package stores in Maryland.
  13. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied conceded
    Unlike the treaties and the antismuggling statute, the wire fraud statute punishes fraudulent use of domestic wires, whether or not such conduct constitutes smuggling, occurs aboard a vessel, or evades foreign taxes.
  14. 5 Transmission or causation by wire, radio, television satisfied conceded
    Petitioners used U. S. interstate wires to execute a scheme to defraud a foreign sovereign of tax revenue.