U.S. v. Sheneman

Record contained sufficient evidence to support defendant's conviction on four counts of wire fraud stemming from scheme in which defendant and his son acquired control over large number of rental properties by inducing unqualified buyers through false promises to purchase said properties and then submitting false loan documents to induce lenders to approve mortgages on said properties. Record contained sufficient evidence that defendant and his son had scheme to defraud through series of false statements made to both buyers and lenders, and that defendant played crucial role in said scheme by inducing buyers to purchase subject properties and then transferring buyers to his son to generate false loan documents. Moreover, existence of interstate wire communication required by wire fraud statute was established through bank-to-bank wire transfer that occurred with each sale at issue in indictment. Ct. rejected defendant's argument that instant wire transfers were insufficient to establish interstate wire communication element of offense where said transfers played no role in underlying scheme.