United States v. Jerry Diggs, United States of America v. Peter Oliverez

This is a consolidation of two criminal appeals. Appellants Diggs and Oliverez were each indicted on two counts of mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 , 1341, 1343. A jury found them guilty on all counts. Appellants make various assignments of error relating to the admissibility of certain evidence, the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury verdict, and the district court’s denial of several defense motions. We affirm.

I

Appellants’ fraudulent scheme involved the issuance of negotiable paper — e. g., certificates of deposit and letters of credit — by a fictitious bank owned by Diggs (the Bank). Such paper was used by Bank clients to obtain legitimate bank loans for which they otherwise did not qualify because of insufficient collateral. A client would list the worthless paper as a personal asset on his or her loan application, and the Bank would vouch for the existence and declared value of the paper. As a fee for this service, the Bank received a portion of the loan proceeds, usually ten percent. Oliverez functioned as the Bank’s “exclusive agent” in the United States, for which he received forty percent of…