UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Stephen SARAULT, Defendant-Appellant

Stephen Sarault appeals from his jury trial conviction of making false statements in a document required to be kept by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1027 , and conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 . We affirm.

I.

Stephen Sarault is an attorney who practiced primarily business and estate law. He represented Merchant’s Bank of Commerce, an off-shore bank his father had established in the West Indies. Sarault was aware this was a “paper” bank: that it was funded with worthless bonds. Michael Strauss, whom Sarault knew had been convicted of fraud and had set up paper banks with Sarault’s father, had discussed with Sarault the problems and uses of paper banks. Strauss also referred Sarault to Seymour Pollack, president of American Casualty and Indemnity Corp. (AC & I) so that Sarault might make some money representing AC & I. Soon thereafter, Sa-rault began to represent AC & I.

Seymour Pollack needed a new asset base for AC & I because the bank he had been using had its telephone disconnected. Pollack entered into an agreement with Anthony Cavanaugh for Cavanaugh to provide Pollack with certificates…