Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/752/777/57648/
Timestamp: 2020-02-25 03:56:48
Document Index: 771794404

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1341', '§ 1623', '§ 1962', '§ 1962', '§ 1341', '§ 1623', '§ 7206', '§ 1343', '§ 1962', '§ 1341', '§ 1341']

United States of America, Appellee, v. Solomon Weiss, Defendant-appellant, 752 F.2d 777 (2d Cir. 1985) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Second Circuit › 1985 › United States of America, Appellee, v. Solomon Weiss, Defendant-appellant
United States of America, Appellee, v. Solomon Weiss, Defendant-appellant, 752 F.2d 777 (2d Cir. 1985)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit - 752 F.2d 777 (2d Cir. 1985) Submitted July 17, 1984. Decided Jan. 7, 1985
Solomon Weiss appeals from a judgment of conviction in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mary J. Lowe, J., entered on March 13, 1984, after a jury trial. Weiss was found guilty of three counts of mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341, three counts of perjury, 18 U.S.C. § 1623, and one count of racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. § 1962. Weiss asserts on appeal several grounds for reversal: (1) that he was denied a fair trial because of the infiltration of extra-record evidence into the jury deliberations; (2) that the government's theory and proof at trial constituted a constructive amendment of the indictment; (3) that the government failed to establish that the defendant's conduct violated the mail fraud or RICO statutes; (4) that the prosecutor's use of leading questions to present the testimony of the two key prosecution witnesses to the grand jury violated his Fifth Amendment rights; (5) that his perjury conviction should be reversed because of the prosecution's failure to disclose a known conflict of interest or defendant's "target" status at the time of his grand jury testimony; and (6) that the District Court erred by not submitting to the jury the issue of the materiality of his perjurious grand jury testimony to the jury.
After three weeks of trial and four days of deliberation, the jury found Weiss guilty of seven of the thirteen counts charged in the indictment. Specifically, Weiss was convicted of: (1) one violation of the RICO Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); (2) three violations of mail fraud, under 18 U.S.C. § 1341; and (3) three perjury violations, under 18 U.S.C. § 1623. Weiss was acquitted of one count of mail fraud and of four counts of tax fraud, 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2).
We have recognized that "extra-record information that comes to the attention of a juror is 'presumptively prejudicial.' " United States v. Hillard, 701 F.2d 1052, 1064 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 958, 103 S. Ct. 2431, 77 L. Ed. 2d 1318 (1983) (citing Remmer v. United States, 347 U.S. 227, 229, 74 S. Ct. 450, 451, 98 L. Ed. 654, 656 (1954)). This presumption may be rebutted, however, by an affirmative showing on the part of the government that the information was harmless. Id. "The touchstone of decision in a case such as we have here is thus not the mere fact of infiltration of some molecules of extra-record matter, ... but the nature of what has been infiltrated and the probability of prejudice." United States ex rel. Owen v. McMann, 435 F.2d 813, 818 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 906, 91 S. Ct. 1373, 28 L. Ed. 2d 646 (1971) (citations omitted).
The trial court should assess the "possibility of prejudice" by reviewing the entire record, analyzing the substance of the extrinsic evidence, and comparing it to that information of which the jurors were properly aware. Sher v. Stoughton, 666 F.2d 791, 794 (2d Cir. 1981). The court may properly conclude that such extra-record information was non-prejudicial if it determines that an abundance of properly admitted evidence relevant to this matter exists. Hillard, supra, at 1064; Sher, supra, at 793-94.
Additionally, the trial court has broad discretion in reviewing the issue of the prejudicial effect of the infiltration of extra-record evidence into the deliberations of the jury. Marshall v. United States, 360 U.S. 310, 312, 79 S. Ct. 1171, 1173, 3 L. Ed. 2d 1250, 1252 (1959); United States v. Panebianco, 543 F.2d 447, 457 (2d Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1103, 97 S. Ct. 1129, 51 L. Ed. 2d 553 (1977); United States v. Flynn, 216 F.2d 354, 372 (2d Cir. 1954), cert. denied, 348 U.S. 909, 75 S. Ct. 295, 99 L. Ed. 713 (1955). " [A] trial judge's handling of alleged juror misconduct or bias is only reviewable for abuse of discretion." Panebianco, supra, at 457.2
After an exhaustive evidentiary hearing on the issue of jury contamination, the trial judge concluded that the infiltration of the material from an accounting text into deliberations of the jury was harmless. We find no abuse of discretion in so holding. See United States v. Hockridge, 573 F.2d 752, 756 (2d Cir. 1978).
An employee's breach of a fiduciary duty, standing alone, will not support a mail fraud violation. Rather, the government must also prove that while under a duty to disclose material information to his employer, an employee failed to do so. United States v. Barta, 635 F.2d 999, 1006 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 998, 101 S. Ct. 1703, 68 L. Ed. 2d 199 (1981). Thus, the statute is violated when a fiduciary fails to disclose material information "which he is under a duty to disclose to another under circumstances where the non-disclosure could or does result in harm to another." United States v. Siegel, 717 F.2d 9, 14 (2d Cir. 1983) (quoting United States v. Bronston, 658 F.2d 920, 926 (2d Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 915, 102 S. Ct. 1769, 72 L. Ed. 2d 174 (1982) (emphasis added).
While the government must show that some harm or injury was contemplated by the scheme, it need not show that "direct, tangible economic loss resulted to the scheme's intended victims." Siegel, supra, at 14; see United States v. Newman, 664 F.2d 12 (2d Cir. 1981), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 193, 78 L. Ed. 2d 170 (1983). Violations of the mail fraud statute may be based on artifices which do not deprive any person of money or other forms of tangible property. United States v. Margiotta, 688 F.2d 108, 121 (2d Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 913, 103 S. Ct. 1891, 77 L. Ed. 2d 282 (1983). Further, the government need not prove that the fraudulent actors actually benefited from their deception. Id.
Appellant's argument that he did not violate the mail fraud statute because his creation of the cash fund was not illegal, was not intended to harm Warner or its shareholders, and did not lead to any personal gain presents a close question. We have held, however, that there need not be a direct showing that the wrongful act was harmful, per se, to the corporation. Siegel, supra. In Siegel, two executive officers were charged with violations of the wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (1976), because of their participation in the creation of a cash fund. The scheme involved unrecorded cash sales of merchandise that had been closed out, marked down for clearance, or returned as damaged. The indictment charged the defendant with creating the illicit fund in order to bribe union officials and to increase personal coffers. Id. at 10-11.
The appellant's remaining duo of contentions against his conviction under the mail fraud statute can be readily dispatched. First, Weiss claims that he was not an "officer" of Warner, thus owing no duty to disclose the cash fund to the shareholders. On review of the record, this assertion cannot be taken seriously. Finally, Weiss contends that he was acting under the direction, and with the approval, of his superiors. Consequently, he asserts that no conflict between his fiduciary duty to his employer and his participation in the cash fund scheme arose. Once more, the District Court properly rejected this argument, noting that regardless of the fact that higher officials directed the wrongful acts, the harm was no less injurious to the corporation. See Goldberg v. Meridor, 567 F.2d 209, 217 (2d Cir. 1977).
In a separate opinion, the District Court determined that Weiss's perjurious testimony before the grand jury should not be suppressed. We affirm the holding of the lower court. A "witness sworn to tell the truth before a duly constituted grand jury will not be heard to call for the suppression of false statements to the jury...." United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 582, 96 S. Ct. 1768, 1779, 48 L. Ed. 2d 212, 226 (1976).
It is not at all clear that the prosecution misrepresented Weiss's "target" status to his defense counsel. Even if the actions of the U.S. Attorneys can somehow be construed as "misconduct," such actions did not cause sufficient prejudice to Weiss to warrant the dismissal of his perjury conviction. See id. at 577, 96 S. Ct. at 1776-77, 48 L. Ed. 2d at 222-23.
If the appellant's claim for suppression of his grand jury testimony is predicated upon a violation of the Disciplinary Rules, this review rests within the supervisory power of this Court. See United States v. Foley, 735 F.2d 45, 48 (2d Cir. 1984); United States v. Jamil, 707 F.2d 638, 645-46 (2d Cir. 1983); see also United States v. Thomas, 474 F.2d 110, 112 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 932, 93 S. Ct. 2758, 37 L. Ed. 2d 160 (1973). The failure of Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Akerman to seek judicial resolution of the known conflict of interest of defendant's attorney was not motivated by bad faith or in deliberate disregard of an ethical obligation. The lower court found it inappropriate to sanction his behavior. We see no reason to disturb that determination.5
We must also reject the appellant's claim under constitutional principles for the suppression of his perjurious testimony. It is now well settled that a witness before a grand jury may not dismiss an indictment for perjury because he was the target of an investigation, United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. 1, 10 n. 8, 93 S. Ct. 764, 769 n. 8, 35 L. Ed. 2d 67, 77 n. 8 (1973); or because he was not advised of his Miranda rights, United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 577, 96 S. Ct. 1768, 1776-77, 48 L. Ed. 2d 212, 222-23 (1977); or because no effective warning of the Fifth Amendment privilege to remain silent was given, United States v. Wong, 431 U.S. 174, 179-80, 97 S. Ct. 1823, 1826, 52 L. Ed. 2d 231, 236-37 (1977). See also United States v. Washington, 431 U.S. 181, 97 S. Ct. 1814, 52 L. Ed. 2d 238 (1977).
We perceive no error in the prosecution's use of leading questions before the grand jury. See United States v. Jacobson, 691 F.2d 110, 115-16 (2d Cir. 1982). See also United States v. Provenzano, 440 F. Supp. 561, 565-66 (S.D.N.Y. 1977).
Weiss's claim that the District Court erred in not submitting the issue of the materiality of his perjurious testimony to the jury is foreclosed by the law of this circuit. It is well settled that the materiality of perjury before a grand jury is a question for the court alone. United States v. Moon (Sun Myung), 718 F.2d 1210, 1237 (2d Cir. 1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 2344, 80 L. Ed. 2d 818 (1984); United States v. Cunningham, 723 F.2d 217, 226 (2d Cir. 1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 2154, 80 L. Ed. 2d 540 (1984); United States v. Berardi, 629 F.2d 723, 728 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 995, 101 S. Ct. 534, 66 L. Ed. 2d 293 (1980).
A criminal defendant has a substantive right to be tried only on the charges contained in the indictment returned by the grand jury. Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1, 7, 7 S. Ct. 781, 784-85, 30 L. Ed. 849, 852 (1887); Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 216-17, 80 S. Ct. 270, 273, 4 L. Ed. 2d 252, 256 (1960).
"An amendment of the indictment occurs when the charging terms of the indictment are altered, either literally or in effect, ... [while a] variance occurs when the charging terms of the indictment are left unaltered, but the evidence offered at trial proves facts materially different from those alleged in the indictment." United States v. Pelose, 538 F.2d 41, 45 n. 8 (2d Cir. 1976) (quoting Gaither v. United States, 413 F.2d 1061, 1071 (D.C. Cir. 1969)) (emphasis in original). While variances are subject to the harmless error rule and require a showing of prejudice to the defendant, United States v. Garguilo, 554 F.2d 59 (2d Cir. 1977), constructive amendments are generally considered prejudicial per se. See United States v. Crocker, 568 F.2d 1049, 1060 (3d Cir. 1977); United States v. Beeler, 587 F.2d 340, 342 (6th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 860, 102 S. Ct. 315, 70 L. Ed. 2d 158 (1981).
The appellant contends that the rule against a variance or a constructive amendment of an indictment has been frustrated by the government. See generally United States v. Lemire, 720 F.2d 1327 (D.C. Cir. 1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S. Ct. 2678, 81 L. Ed. 2d 874 (1984); United States v. Beeler, supra; United States v. Silverman, 430 F.2d 106, 111 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 953, 91 S. Ct. 1619, 29 L. Ed. 2d 123 (1971). We reject this contention, and find that both the government's theory and the proof offered at trial fairly reflect the charges set forth in the indictment.
A defendant is deprived of his right to be tried only on the charges returned by a grand jury if the prosecution's proof or theory constitute a modification at trial of an essential element of the offense charged. See Lemire, 720 F.2d at 1345; Watson v. Jago, 558 F.2d 330, 334 (6th Cir. 1977); Silverman, 430 F.2d at 100.
The indictment also charged Weiss with "secretly and corruptly siphon [ing] and convert [ing] approximately $221,950 in checks which belonged to Warner and its shareholders ...," and with knowingly causing "fraudulent documents to be prepared" in order to make it "appear that the checks ... were being paid to third parties for services rendered to Warner" when in fact Weiss knew "said services were non-existent."
Frankly, the cash fund evidence did not change the theoretical basis of the fraudulent scheme. Rather, as the trial court concluded, " [t]he cash fund proof offered at trial was not an alternative theory, but simply traced the proceeds of the illegal scheme." 579 F. Supp. at 1244. Finally, the cases cited by the appellant in support of his constructive amendment argument are distinguishable.
In Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 80 S. Ct. 270, 4 L. Ed. 2d 252 (1960), the defendant was indicted for, and convicted of, interference with interstate commerce under the Hobbs Act. The indictment identified "interstate commerce" as the importation of sand into the state for use in the construction of a steel mill. The trial judge instructed the jury, however, that it could convict the defendant for interference with the importation of sand or with the exportation of steel. The Supreme Court reversed the conviction, stating that "when only one particular kind of commerce is charged to have been burdened, a conviction must rest on that charge and not on another ...." Id. at 218, 80 S. Ct. at 273, 4 L. Ed. 2d at 257-58.6
Along similar lines, this court recognizes that an amendment or variance which does not alter an essential element of the charge may still deprive the defendant of an opportunity to meet the prosecutor's case. See Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 55 S. Ct. 629, 79 L. Ed. 2d 1314 (1935); Lemire, supra. As noted above, the appellant argues that he could not prepare a defense to the charges under the indictment because the government never apprised him of the "cash fund" theory prior to trial. Specifically, the appellant contends that his defenses to the charges of bribery and conversion were inapplicable to the cash fund theory.
The government argues that Weiss waived any variance claim by failing to take exception to any evidence or instruction on the cash fund. In making this argument, the government does not contend that the alleged shift in a cash fund theory at trial constitutes a variance rather than a constructive amendment; rather, it altogether ignores the distinction. Weiss asserts that his case is the first true constructive amendment case to reach this court, and argues that reversal is required, notwithstanding the appellant's failure to raise the claim below. This circuit has been reluctant to construe an alleged "shift" in the government's theory or proof as a constructive amendment that would require reversal of a conviction "without regard to whether defendant was prejudiced by a difference between the indictment and the proof." United States v. Heimann, 705 F.2d 662, 665-66 (2d Cir. 1983). See United States v. Sindona, 636 F.2d 792 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 912, 101 S. Ct. 1984, 68 L. Ed. 2d 302 (1981). Rather, this circuit has treated any differences between the indictment and the proof as variances which do not require reversal absent a showing that the variance caused substantial prejudice to the defendant. See United States v. Knuckles, 581 F.2d 305, 312 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 986, 99 S. Ct. 581, 58 L. Ed. 2d 659 (1978); Sindona, 636 F.2d at 798. While we decline to resolve the issue on the basis of waiver, the appellant's failure to object militates against any argument that he was surprised by or not prepared to defend against the cash fund theory.
Believing that an unconstitutional constructive amendment of the indictment occurred at appellant's trial, I respectfully dissent from those portions of the majority's opinion and resulting judgment that affirm the RICO and underlying mail fraud convictions. In recent years, this Court has tolerated an extraordinary expansion of mail and wire fraud statutes to permit federal prosecution for conduct that some had thought was subject only to state criminal or civil law.1 That "inexorable expansion," United States v. Siegel, 717 F.2d 9, 24 (2d Cir. 1983) (Winter, J., dissenting in part), has been questionable on its own terms, but whether we have rewritten the federal fraud statutes or only permitted prosecutors to apply the imprecise terms of these statutes in imaginative ways, there can be little doubt that the modern scope of federal fraud statutes now covers an extremely broad range of conduct. The current breadth of these statutes makes it especially important that in fraud prosecutions courts vigilantly enforce the Fifth Amendment requirement that a person be tried only on the charges contained in the indictment returned by the grand jury. A criminal statute of broad scope creates some risk that conduct will be punishable even though the perpetrator may have doubted in good faith that his actions fell within the coverage of the statute. To that apparently tolerable risk is added a wholly unacceptable and unconstitutional risk when the prosecutor describes one type of actionable conduct in the indictment and then convicts the defendant for significantly different conduct. I believe that the RICO and mail fraud convictions obtained in this case are an egregious example of a constructive amendment of an indictment, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
The indictment charged in Count 1 a RICO offense, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (1982), accomplished through a series of mail fraud violations, 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (1982). Counts 2 through 5 alleged the mail fraud violations, consisting of the mailing of four letters in the execution of a scheme to defraud. The scheme is described in three paragraphs of Count 1, under the heading "Object of the Scheme." These paragraphs are realleged in the mail fraud counts. The first object of the scheme was that Weiss and others "did secretly and corruptly extract and accept cash bribes in return for which they caused Warner to purchase common stock in the Westchester Premier Theatre ... thereby violating their fiduciary duties to Warner and its shareholders...." Indictment, Count 1, p 4. The second object was that Weiss and others "did secretly and corruptly siphon and convert approximately $221,950 in checks which belonged to Warner and its shareholders, thereby violating their fiduciary duties to Warner and its shareholders...." Id. p 5. The third object was that "in order to siphon and to convert the checks from Warner and to conceal the fraudulent conversion of those checks," Weiss and others "did cause fraudulent documents to be prepared"; the "documents represented ... that the checks ... were being paid to third parties for services rendered to Warner" when in fact the "services were non-existent." Id. p 6. The scheme charged in the indictment is plainly a scheme to accept bribes and to convert corporate funds, with false check entries made to conceal the conversion. A further paragraph of the indictment, headed "Methods and Means," details various check and cash transactions between Warner and Westchester Premier Theatre ("WPT") or persons associated with WPT.
What occurred here is not simply a variance such as occurs when the evidence proves some facts materially different from those alleged in the indictment. See United States v. Pelose, 538 F.2d 41, 45 n. 8 (2d Cir. 1976). In this case the very nature of the crime of which Weiss was convicted is significantly different from the crime charged in the indictment. That is a constructive amendment of the indictment, which violates the Fifth Amendment. Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 80 S. Ct. 270, 4 L. Ed. 2d 252 (1960); see Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1, 7 S. Ct. 781, 30 L. Ed. 849 (1887).
The various arguments advanced to excuse or mitigate the fundamental switch from the crime charged to the crime proved are unavailing. Whether Weiss was surprised or prejudiced, or was himself at fault for not objecting to the prosecutor's opening, the evidence, or the jury charge, is all beside the point because a constructive amendment of an indictment is the " [d]eprivation of such a basic right" that it cannot be "dismissed as harmless error." Stirone v. United States, supra, 361 U.S. at 217, 80 S. Ct. at 273. Weiss does not complain of overreaching argument, inadmissible evidence, or an incorrect statement of the law in the charge; his point is that the notice requirement of the Fifth Amendment has been violated. It is the totality of the trial that demonstrates the correctness of his position. Nor can I accept as justification the District Court's view that the cash fund theory "simply traced the proceeds of the illegal scheme." United States v. Weiss, 579 F. Supp. 1224, 1244 (S.D.N.Y. 1983). At trial, as the jury charge made crystal clear, creation of the cash fund was the illegal scheme for which Weiss was convicted. That the fund was also the proceeds of the scheme alleged in the indictment does not permit the shift from one scheme to the other.3 Equally unpersuasive to me is the majority's slightly different explanation that the reference to the cash fund in the jury instructions was only a "short-hand expression" for the scheme charged in the indictment. 752 F.2d at 789. Helping to raise secret cash for a corporation does not strike me as shorthand for accepting bribes.
Nor do I find the majority's invocation of prior decisions of this Court especially helpful to the effort to salvage Weiss's conviction. The majority cites United States v. Heimann, 705 F.2d 662, 665-66 (2d Cir. 1983), to show that we have been reluctant to regard an alleged shift in the Government's theory or proof as a constructive amendment of an indictment. Yet Heimann involved no shift at all in the theory of the crime alleged and only the most inconsequential shift in the proof. The only shift this Court detected was a slight variation between the indictment and the proof with respect to the time when the defendant's dealings with the victims first became fraudulent. Id. at 666-68. In United States v. Sindona, 636 F.2d 792, 797-99 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 912, 101 S. Ct. 1984, 68 L. Ed. 2d 302 (1981), we concluded that no prejudicial variance occurred when the core allegation of the indictment was concealment of the fact that the funds in question did not belong to the defendant and the proof showed that the concealment occurred because the funds were obtained by means of a fiduciary contract, rather than by means of embezzlement, as language of the indictment had alleged. In United States v. Knuckles, 581 F.2d 305, 308-12 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 986, 99 S. Ct. 581, 58 L. Ed. 2d 659 (1978), a conviction for distribution of a controlled substance was upheld though the indictment alleged heroin and the proof showed cocaine. These cases, involving slight variances as to details, provide no support for the total shift that occurred in this case between the crime for which Weiss was indicted and the crime for which he was convicted.
United States v. Bagnariol, 665 F.2d 877, 885 (9th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 962, 102 S. Ct. 2040, 72 L. Ed. 2d 487 (1982).
Section 1341 prohibits "any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretense or promises." 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (1976)
Cf. United States v. Miller, 715 F.2d 1360, 1362-63 (9th Cir. 1983), modified, 728 F.2d 1269, 1270 (9th Cir.), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 105 S. Ct. 78, 83 L. Ed. 2d 26 (1984) (defendant indicted for violation of mail fraud statute by devising scheme to defraud insurer by knowing of and consenting to false burglary, then inflating amount of claimed loss, and jury convicted based solely on evidence of inflating claim, conviction could not be sustained); but see United States v. Wright, Nos. 742 F.2d 1215, 1219 (9th Cir. 1984) ("An amendment is made when the court instructs the jury on a violation that is not charged in the indictment but that is consistent with the truth adduced at trial....")
See, e.g., United States v. Siegel, 717 F.2d 9 (2d Cir. 1983); United States v. Margiotta, 688 F.2d 108 (2d Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 913, 103 S. Ct. 1891, 77 L. Ed. 2d 282 (1983); United States v. Newman, 664 F.2d 12 (2d Cir. 1981); United States v. Bronston, 658 F.2d 920 (2d Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 915, 102 S. Ct. 1769, 72 L. Ed. 2d 174 (1982); United States v. Von Barta, 635 F.2d 999 (2d Cir. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 998, 101 S. Ct. 1703, 68 L. Ed. 2d 199 (1981)
The issue might be somewhat closer if Weiss had not been charged with a mail fraud scheme, but instead had been charged with an offense directly based on obtaining the secret cash fund and then convicted for an offense directly based on possessing it. Compare United States v. Gaddis, 424 U.S. 544, 548, 96 S. Ct. 1023, 1026, 47 L. Ed. 2d 222 (1976) (receipt or possession of proceeds of bank robbery not lesser included offense within federal bank robbery provisions), with Dove v. Peyton, 343 F.2d 210, 213 (4th Cir. 1965) (receiving stolen property is lesser included offense within offense of larceny under explicit Virginia statutory provision, Code of Virginia Sec. 18.1-107 (1950)). But even if lesser included offense concepts could be enlisted in such a situation, they provide no basis for upholding what occurred here, where a conviction that can be viewed at best as based on a scheme to funnel proceeds from wrongdoing into a cash fund was obtained under an indictment alleging a scheme to commit the wrongdoing