United States v. Eugene William Conrad

Eugene William Conrad appeals from a denial of his motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to a charge of wire fraud' and from the judgment of conviction and sentence based on his guilty plea.

Conrad was indicted in May 1977 on four counts of wire fraud and three counts of travelling between states in furtherance of fraud.

Conrad, who organized “Pension Funds of America”, was accused of fraudulently representing that he could obtain large loans for commercial clients. He collected 1.4 million dollars in advance fees but did not arrange a single loan. He admitted that, during an interstate telephone call, he misrepresented the availability of funds to a client when he knew he could not arrange the loan.

Conrad was on probation for state crimes when he was indicted. His probation was to end on July 10, 1978. The case was continued several times from July 1977 until February 21, 1978 when Conrad entered a plea of guilty to one count of wire fraud.

The plea was the result of a plea bargain in which the United States Attorney agreed to dismiss the other six counts and agreed not to pursue any other charges for Conrad’s known activities including a possible firearms charge and…