United States v. Van Grover Simpson

Simpson was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 2314 upon a finding by the District Court that he had transported in interstate commerce stock certificates he had falsely endorsed. Appellant contends (1) that the stock certificates were not securities when transported because at that time they were valueless and (2) that a falsely endorsed stock certificate, in all other respects genuine, is not a “falsely made, forged, altered, or counterfeited” security within the meaning of the pertinent portion of the statute. We reject the first contention of the appellant but hold the second to be meritorious. Therefore, we reverse the appellant’s conviction.

I.

Facts.

In August 1971, a number of stock certificates were stolen from an office in Boston, Massachusetts. In December of the same year the issuing companies cancelled the original certificates on their books and issued replacements. Some of the certificates were found by one Polk in the fall of 1971 lying near trash barrels. Through a series of dealings, the certificates ended up in the hands of Simpson. In June 1975, having falsely endorsed the certificates with the names of their true owners, Simpson sold them at a Dean, Witter…