Szabla

MEMORANDUM *

Sam Szabla, owner and operator of Hawaiian House, Inc., appeals his jury conviction for two counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 , arising out of his submission of allegedly fraudulent documents in support of a claim for business interruption insurance benefits. During the course of Szabla’s five-day trial, the district court made two evidentiary rulings that are the subject of this appeal. In both instances, the court refused to admit January 2000 bank records, ruling they were irrelevant because they were outside the July 1999 to December 1999 time frame of the alleged fraud.

The district court did err in ruling the evidence was not relevant. Federal Rule of Evidence 401 sets forth a “liberal” standard for relevancy. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 587 , 118 S.Ct. 2786 , 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993). The bank records tended to support the defense’s theory that some of the sales from December 1999 were not reflected in the company’s bank records until January 2000. Szabla and his witness called this the “deposits-in-transit” theory.

However, any error was harmless because all the relevant information contained in the bank records was…