U.S. v. Eaden

In prosecution on mail and wire fraud charges stemming from scheme to defraud defendant’s employer out of more than $200,000 by defendant inflating his company’s profits so that defendant could obtain unearned bonuses and submitting false claims to company’s rewards program, Dist. Ct. did not commit plain error where, during voir dire, Dist. Ct. informed prospective jurors that grand jury had issued defendant’s indictment based on probable cause, which was defined as meaning “its probably true that defendant had some connection with criminal activity.” Record showed that Dist. Ct.’s comment that improperly implied that grand jury’s finding had some bearing on defendant’s guilt or innocence did not deprive defendant of fair trial, where said comment was subsequently clarified by Dist. Ct. that government bore full burden of proof at trial, notwithstanding issuance of indictment, and that indictment was not evidence. Dist. Ct. erred, though, in imposing $189,709 restitution order, where record did not establish said amount as actual loss to defendant’s company. Dist. Ct., also erred in ordering defendant to forfeit all $88,106.78 in performance-based bonuses, where forensic testimony only attributed $47,288.97 of said bonuses to defendant’s over-billing scheme.