U.S. v. Durham

Record failed to contain sufficient evidence to support jury’s guilty verdict on two of several wire fraud counts stemming from scheme in which defendant persuaded investors to loan money to defendant’s company under representation that money would be invested on profitable consumer receivables, when in fact money was used to pay for defendant’s lavish personal expenses and for making questionable loans to others that were not repaid. Govt. introduced only single-page descriptions of two wire transfers without introducing any other evidence indicating how said money from transfers was used to advance scheme. Fact that defendant made similar transfers to support other wire fraud counts did not require different result. Dist. Ct. also did not err in failing to give defendant's proposed instruction on securities fraud count that informed jury that delay in payments to investors is not scheme to defraud, where said instruction: (1) would have misled jury about scope of criminal liability under section 10(b); and (2) was not supported by evidence where defendant’s delay in payments played large role in investors’ decisions to either hold or cash out overdue investment certificates.