U.S. v. Fluker

In prosecution on mail and wire fraud charges stemming from defendants’ participation in Ponzi-like schemes designed to dupe victims into investing millions of dollars into programs designed to fail, one defendant waived ability to challenge admission of civil consent order entered into by said defendant arising out of his participation in schemes at issue in charged offenses, where his defense counsel failed to object to said admission. Moreover, Dist. Ct.’s issuance of limiting instructions, as well as lack of any reference in consent order to another defendant, sufficiently removed any prejudice caused by admission of consent order with respect to remaining defendants. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in admitting: (1) two prior felony convictions for larceny by conversion and for forgery where defendant preemptively testified about both convictions during his direct examination; and/or (2) series of e-mails that served to rebut one defendant’s defense that certain mortgage transaction was not part of charged scheme, where govt. used circumstantial evidence to authenticate instant emails.