United States v. Michael C. Miller

Michael C. Miller entered a conditional plea of guilty to the crime of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343 . He reserved his right to appeal on the grounds that the count was time-barred and that evidence admitted under 18 U.S.C. § 3292 , whose constitutionality he challenged, should be suppressed. The issues raise new points of law about parts of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. Miller’s contentions have been vigorously argued and as vigorously answered. We affirm the district court and Miller’s conviction.

FACTS

In 1978 Miller, a real estate dealer in Los Angeles, became a friend of John Louis Paanakker, a young man of twenty-one, who had recently moved from Germany to California. Paanakker was about to receive a large inheritance in stocks. Miller convinced him he should invest the inheritance in the Grand Cayman Islands. In July 1980 Miller traveled to the Grand Caymans and set up a company called Humberstone, Hatfield & Co., Inc. (HHC) and opened an account for HHC at the Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co., Ltd. in the Grand Caymans. Miller told Paanakker that Paanakker would be the only person who could withdraw money from the corporate account; in fact Miller also had…