Telink, Inc. Burnup & Sims, Inc. v. United States of America, County of Fresno, County of San Diego, Intervenors-Appellees

Opinion by Judge BEEZER.

Two corporate defendants petitioned the district court for a writ of error coram nobis, alleging that the indictment to which they pled nolo contendere failed to state a criminal offense. The corporations sought dismissal of the indictment and return of restitution and monetary fines. The district court denied the petition on a theory of lach-es and, alternatively, on the conclusion that certain counts in the indictment continued to state a criminal offense. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I

Telink, Inc. (“Telink”), a California corporation, Burnup & Sims, Inc. (“Burnup”), a Delaware corporation, and other individual defendants were involved in the sale of telecommunications goods and services to private firms and the Counties of San Diego and Fresno between 1978 and 1984. On October 26, 1984, the government charged the defendants with a pervasive pattern of private and public corruption in a forty-nine count indictment. The indictment alleged racketeering activity for the purpose of inducing the purchase of telecommunications equipment from Telink. Among the acts alleged in the indictment were the payment of bribes and…