People v. Wu CA6

I. Statement of Facts3

In December 2005, Winnie Liu agreed to invest in defendant’s company. Liu wired $100,000 to defendant’s account the following month. Defendant gave Liu a promissory note in which she agreed to repay the investment plus 40 percent interest by June 6, 2006. In April 2006, defendant asked Liu for an additional $100,000 and verbally promised to repay the investment within two or three weeks. Liu withdrew $100,000 from her home equity line of credit (HELOC) and gave defendant three cashier’s checks totaling $100,000. Between May 2 and May 30, 2006, defendant gave Liu six checks totaling $232,620.88. Liu attempted several times to cash the checks, but she was unable to obtain the funds. On July 11, 2006, defendant called Liu and stated that she had deposited the funds for the second payment of $100,000. A few hours later, she called Liu and told her that the bookkeeper had made a mistake and deposited an extra $95,000 into Liu’s account. Defendant asked Liu to give the $95,000 back to her by cashier’s check. After Liu confirmed that two deposits totaling $195,000 were in her account, she made a cashier’s check payable to defendant for $93,000 and deposited $2,000…