Criminal Law-Wire and Mail Fraud-Sufficiency of Evidence-Discovery Violations

Defendant appealed her conviction for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, stemming from her participation in a fraudulent magazine subscription scheme. Defendant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her convictions and argued that the district court erred in its jury instructions on wire fraud and in denying her motion for dismissal or new trial based on alleged discovery violations.

Where the evidence showed that the scheme’s telephone scripts required callers to give false or misleading information to defraud victims into believing they had an existing subscription and induce them to sign up for a new subscription, there was sufficient evidence of intent to defraud, and there was no evidence that allegedly withheld evidence was in the government’s control.

Judgment is affirmed.

U.S. v. Crump (MLW No. 85020/Case No. 24-3453 – 29 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Smith, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Tunheim, J. (Caitlinrose Hoolihan Fisher, Minneapolis, MN for appellant; Matthew D. Forsgren, Minneapolis, MN on the brief) (Nathan Hoye Nelson, AUSA, Minneapolis, MN for appellee)