United States v. Nicholas Lindsey

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 14-10004 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 2:11-cr-00217-

LDG-CWH-

NICHOLAS LINDSEY,

Defendant-Appellant. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada Lloyd D. George, Senior District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 18, 2016 San Francisco, California

Filed June 28, 2016

Before: John T. Noonan, Ronald M. Gould, and Michelle T. Friedland, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Gould SUMMARY*

Criminal Law

Affirming the defendant’s convictions in a mortgage fraud case, the panel held that lender negligence in verifying loan application information, or even intentional disregard of the information, is not a defense to fraud, and so evidence of such negligence or intentional disregard is inadmissible as a defense against charges of mortgage fraud.

The panel further held that, when a lender requests specific information in its loan applications, that information is objectively material as a matter of law, regardless of the lenders’ policies or practices with respect…