United States v. Hong Lee Wong

MEMORANDUM

Duong and Wong each were convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, receiving sentences of thirty and months’ imprisonment, respectively. The district court held Wong and Duong jointly liable to Cheery Way for $166,781.31 in restitution. We have under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

Wong argues that the district court erred in instructing the jury that it could infer that Wong knew the Six Flags project wa~ a fraud from evidence that Wong was deliberately ignorant of that fact. The instruction was proper. This court held long ago and recently reaffirmed that deliberate ignorance satisfies the knowledge element of a federal offense. United States v. Heredia, 483 F.3d 913, 922 (9th Cir.2007) (en banc); United States v. Jeweli, 532 F.2d 697, 702-04 (9th Cir.1976) (en banc). We see no reason to treat the knowledge element of the wire fraud statute differently from other federal offenses. See, e.g., United States v. McDonald, 576 F.2d 1350, 1358 (9th Cir.1978).

II

Wong argues that the evidence introduced at trial is insufficient to permit a rational inference that Wong actually knew of the Six Flags project's fraudulent nature. Duong testified that Wong…