UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Morris D. ENGLISH, Jr., Defendant-Appellant

Appellant Morris D. English, Jr. (“English”) was indicted on allegations that he had used his company, The Wellington Group, Inc. (“Wellington”), to defraud hundreds of investors of millions of dollars. English was convicted at trial of mail fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and criminal contempt. English raises seven arguments on appeal, relating to errors he alleges were made by both his counsel and the trial court. English argues that (1) emotional testimony from one of the government’s witnesses requires a mistrial, (2) the district court’s decision to permit a witness who had observed some of the proceedings to testify despite the court’s general witness exclusion order, was an abuse of discretion, (3) a juror’s ex parte contact with a spectator requires reversal of all of his convictions, (4) the district court’s failure to instruct on the “willfulness” requirement found in the penalty provision of the fraudulent sale of securities statute requires reversal of his securities fraud convictions, (5) the government failed to link all the money involved in the money laundering offenses to English’s illegal activity as required by the money laundering statute, (6) the…