Wolff

MEMORANDUM **

An indictment charged Stuart H. Wolff in connection with a corporate fraud scheme involving the inflating of his company’s publicly reported revenue figures. He was convicted on all eighteen counts. Wolff raises several issues on appeal, including his assertion that the district judge was required to recuse himself because he owned stock in a company that was connected to the scheme. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . Because the motion for the district judge’s recusal should have been granted, we vacate the conviction and sentence, and remand.

I.

In 2001, Wolff was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Homestore.com, Inc. Wolff, along with co-defendant and former Home-store Executive Vice President Peter Tafeen, who eventually pled guilty to insider trading charges, and other corporate officers and employees were accused of engaging in a lengthy scheme to inflate Homestore’s publicly reported revenue figures. Specifically, Wolff was charged with one count of conspiracy to (i) commit securities fraud; (ii) file false reports with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”); (iii) falsify Home-store’s…