United States v. John Anthony Williams

Defendant John Anthony Williams appeals his conviction and sentence for mail and wire fraud and money laundering. His main argument is that the government improperly charged him under an “intangible rights” theory of mail and wire fraud, because that theory does not apply to private individuals, and that the absence of a special verdict makes it impossible to determine whether the jury found “direct” fraud or “intangible rights” fraud. Since Congress passed 18 U.S.C. § 1346 , we have not addressed directly whether the “intangible rights” theory applies to private-sector fraud. We hold that, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 and 1343, the “intangible rights” theory applies to private-sector fraud, at least where (as here) the defendant has a fiduciary duty to the victim. Because the government correctly charged Defendant under both an “intangible rights” and a “direct” theory of fraud, the general verdict stands.

Defendant also challenges his conviction and sentence on four other grounds: (1) 18 U.S.C. § 1346 is unconstitutionally vague as applied because Defendant would not reasonably expect it to apply to a private individual; (2) Count 12, charging Defendant with foreign transportation…