Pelisamen

The United States Supreme Court has recently held that the offense of honest-services fraud codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1346 is unconstitutionally vague when applied to conduct other than bribery and kickbacks. Skilling v. United States, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 2896, 2931 , 177 L.Ed.2d 619 (2010). In this case, we must decide whether a conviction for wire fraud remains valid where the language of the indictment and the evidence offered by the government support a “money or property” theory of fraud, where the jury was instructed on both a “money or property” theory and an honest-services theory, and where the jury returned a special verdict form indicating that it had convicted the defendant on both theories. We hold that the “money or property” fraud conviction remains valid.

I. BACKGROUND

Defendant-Appellant Luis Pelisamen (“Defendant”), was convicted of wire fraud in connection with the unauthorized removal of funds from his grandmother’s estate, of which he was the administrator. Rita Kaipat (“Rita”), Defendant’s grandmother, died in 1959. Her estate included a parcel of real property that was taken in eminent domain by the Marianas Public Land Authority (“MPLA”), without…