Bitao

MEMORANDUM **

Florentino Bitao appeals his conviction and the district court’s denial of his motion for acquittal. On November 5, 2002, during a routine customs inspection, Bitao was found entering the United States from the Philippines with various bogus financial instruments, including 251 Federal Reserve Notes in the amount of $500 million each. Bitao claimed he believed the documents were legitimate and he was bringing them into the country to be authenticated. He was convicted of possessing false and fictitious instruments purporting or contriving through scheme or artifice to be an actual security or other financial instrument issued under the authority of the United States with intent to defraud, and intent to pass, utter, present, offer, or sell the instruments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 514 (a)(2). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Bitao contends the district court erred by failing to instruct the jury that it was required to find, as a separate element of the offense, that Bitao knew the instruments were false and fictitious. Knowledge of the instruments’ falsity is not an element of 18 U.S.C. § 514 (a)(2). The district court instructed the…