Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/414-u-s-395-606796074
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 00:03:45+00:00

Document:
Held: The mailings were not sufficiently closely related to respondent's scheme to bring his conduct within the statute. Though mailings were to be directed to adjusting the accounts between respondent's victims (the motels, the Louisville bank, and Meredith), they were not for the purpose of executing the scheme embraced by the statute, since that scheme had already reached fruition when respondent checked out of the motel, and did not depend on which of his victims ultimately bore the loss. Pereira v. United States, 347 U.S. 1; United States v. Sampson, 371 U.S. 75, distinguished. Pp. 398-405.
REHNQUIST, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which DOUGLAS, STEWART, MARSHALL, and POWELL, JJ., joined. BURGER, C.J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which WHITE, J., joined, post, p. 405. WHITE, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BURGER, C.J., and BRENNAN and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined, post, p. 408.
fraudulent use of a credit card may violate the mail fraud statute,2 we granted the Government's petition for certiorari. 411 U.S. 963 (1973). For the reasons stated below, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises . . . for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do . . . knowingly causes to be delivered by mail according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any [matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Postal Service] shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
does an act with knowledge that the use of the mails will follow in the ordinary course of business, or where such use can reasonably be foreseen, even though not actually intended. . . .
Under the statute, the mailing must be "for the purpose of executing the scheme, as the statute requires," Kann v. United States, 323 U.S. 88, 94 (1944), but "[i]t is not necessary that the scheme contemplate the use of the mails as an essential element," Pereira v. United States, supra, at 8. The Government relies on Pereira, supra, and United States v. Sampson, 371 U.S. 75 (1962), to support its position, while respondent relies on Kann v. United States, supra, and Parr v. United States, 363 U.S. 370 (1960).
The scheme in each case had reached fruition. The persons intended to receive the money had received it irrevocably. It was immaterial to them, or to any consummation of the scheme, how the bank which paid or credited the check would collect from the drawee bank. It cannot be said that the mailings in question were for [94 S.Ct. 649] the purpose of executing the scheme, as the statute requires.
Pereira asked his then wife if she would join him in the hotel venture and advance $35,000 toward the purchase price of $78,000. She agreed. It was then agreed, between her and Pereira, that she would sell some securities that she possessed in Los Angeles, and bank the money in a bank of his choosing in El Paso. On June 15, she received the check for $35,000 on the Citizens National Bank of Los Angeles from her brokers in Los Angeles, and gave it to Pereira, who endorsed it for collection to the State National Bank of El Paso. The check cleared, and on June 18, a cashier's check for $35,000 was drawn in favor of Pereira.

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.