Stapleton

A jury convicted Defendant Stephen James Stapleton of several counts of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 , and several counts of wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1343 . On appeal, he challenges an instruction that permitted the jury to find him vicariously liable for acts of other participants in the fraudulent scheme of which he was a part. We affirm.

I. THE FRAUDULENT SCHEME

Criminal charges against several people, including Defendant, arose from their involvement in a telephone-marketing company called Gecko Holdings, Inc. (Gecko), which operated from December 1997 to March 1999. Defendant was a telephone salesperson there from October 1998 until March 1999.

Gecko was a fraudulent organization that purported to be initiating a public stock offering for an Internet casino. It operated out of two offices in Orange County, California, under the direction of Robert Syrax.

Gecko’s participating telemarketers called potential investors and made false statements to induce them to send money to Gecko. The false statements included representations that Gecko’s managers were affiliated with Cryptologic, an Internet casino that had been taken public successfully; that Gecko was operating a…