United States v. Mark Ashmore

MEMORANDUM

Defendant Mark Ashmore appeals his convictions for one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1349 and three counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 , arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the convictions.

With regard to the conspiracy count, Ashmore argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to show a single conspiracy and instead demonstrated only several disconnected conspiracies, and thus the evidence was unconstitutionally at variance with the indictment. This is a “recurring” issue, United States v. Bibbero, 749 F.2d 581, 586 (9th Cir.1984), and it is well established that the “government must [have] prove[d] that an overall agreement existed among the conspirators,” though “[a] formal agreement is not necessary,” and an “agreement may be inferred from the defendants’ acts pursuant to the scheme or other circumstantial evidence,” id. at 587 . Here, there is evidence that each of the co-conspirators named in the complaint was involved during the same time frame; the nature of the conspiracy and the method of operation remained constant; they discussed the plan with Ash-more, and some even participated as…