UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joseph v. NASH, Defendant-Appellant

Joseph V. Nash appeals his convictions of bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344 and making false statements to a federally insured lending institution in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014 . The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3231 , and this court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We reverse in part and affirm in part.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Nash was charged in a fifteen-count superseding indictment. Counts 1 through 4 charged Nash with submitting false tax returns to Liberty National Bank in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014 . Nash’s partnership, Nash & Company, applied to Liberty National for a $250,000 line of credit and a $250,000 loan, each of which Nash offered to guarantee personally. As part of the application process, Nash submitted his personal income tax returns for 1985 and 1986. The indictment alleged that these returns “greatly overstated [Nash’s] income for [those] year[s]” and that relying in part on the contents of these documents Liberty National granted Nash & Company the loan and the line of credit. Nash also submitted these allegedly false tax returns to First Pacific Bank to obtain a $200,000 unsecured personal…