United States v. Alfred J. Cusino

Cusino appeals his conviction of one count of mail fraud and six counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343. He contends that the evidence was insufficient to support a guilty verdict and that the district court erred in giving and omitting certain jury instructions. At oral argument the Government conceded that the evidence was insufficient to support the mail fraud conviction. We affirm the conviction of six counts of wire fraud.

FACTS

In 1975 Cusino began to seek buyers for an invention which he declared could amplify energy by a ratio of 9:1. Convinced by Cusino’s claims of successful demonstrations of the invention, several individuals formed a corporation, Multi-Power, to raise capital to purchase the device. During the period from March 1977 through August 1978, Multi-Power received $1,248,000. Of this amount, $916,000 was paid out in checks naming Cusino as payee. Some of the payments to Cusino were wired from a Nevada bank to a California bank after checks drawn by investors in Multi-Power had been wired from California to the Nevada bank.

ANALYSIS

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Evidence is sufficient to support a conviction if, viewing the…