United States v. Conley D. Wolfswinkel

Conley Wolfswinkel was convicted of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and misapplication of bank funds, and aiding and abetting misapplication of bank funds. He appeals. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

Appellant is a major real estate developer in Arizona. At his trial, the prosecution presented evidence that from June through August of 1986, he employed a scheme designed to satisfy the cash needs of his business without liquidating any of its assets. As payment for his business obligations, appellant wrote ordinary checks that were not backed by sufficient funds (NSF checks). When those checks were to be presented, he then wrote checks from his accounts at other banks in order to cover the original checks. Often, the new checks were also not backed by sufficient funds.

Eventually, several banks began requiring appellant to cover his NSF checks with cashier's checks, which are the direct obligation of the issuing bank. Therefore, appellant persuaded John O'Neill, an officer at United Bank of Arizona, to allow him to purchase cashier's checks with NSF checks. Appellant also asked O'Neill to delay processing those NSF checks for several…