Source: http://openjurist.org/302/f3d/485
Timestamp: 2013-12-09 13:36:59
Document Index: 376336867

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2320', '§ 331', '§ 371', '§ 2314', '§ 2320', '§ 331', '§ 1956', '§ 1957', '§ 2314', '§ 2314', '§ 2320', '§ 331']

302 F3d 485 United States v. Hanafy | OpenJurist
302 F. 3d 485 - United States v. Hanafy	Home302 f3d 485 united states v. hanafy
302 F3d 485 United States v. Hanafy 302 F.3d 485
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.Ibrahim Elsayed HANAFY; Mohamed M. Mokbel; Samer Samad Quassas; Adel Hisham Saadat, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 01-10068.
Douglas N. Letter (argued), U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civ. Div.-App. Staff, Washington, DC, Joseph Michael Revesz, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
William D. Sims, Jr., Scott Wayne Breedlove (argued), Todd Andrew Murray (argued), Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, TX, for Hanafy.
Edgar A. Mason, Dallas, TX, Frank Hardin Jackson, Law Office of Frank Jackson, Dallas, TX, for Mokbel.
Donald Edward Ervin, Houston, TX, for Quassas.
Danny D. Burns, Fort Worth, TX, for Saadat.
Appellees Ibrahim Hanafy, Mohamed Mokbel, Samer Quassas and Adel Saadat were found guilty by a jury of mislabeling and trademark infringement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2320 and 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a), 333(a)(2) and 321(m). The Appellees were also found guilty of money laundering and conspiracy charges flowing from the above offenses. The district court overturned the jury verdict as a matter of law and the United States now appeals.
The Appellees in this case all owned businesses which purchased individual cans of infant formula and then repackaged the cans into trays for resale to wholesalers. The cans at issue in this case were all originally either bought, or obtained through welfare programs, or stolen by various third parties who were not associated with the Appellees. These cans of formula were then resold by these various third parties to a number of different convenience stores throughout Texas. The convenience stores in turn sold the infant formula to various companies owned by the Appellees. The Appellees then consolidated the cans of baby formula, by manufacturer, into cardboard containers or shipping trays. These trays were designed to extend upward only a few inches so that the cans would remain visible, and these trays resembled the trays used by the manufacturers themselves, including use of the manufacturers' trademarks on the trays. Though not all of the cans in any given shipping tray would necessarily share the same "sell by" date, it is unchallenged that all of the cans were sold within their "sell by" date. Also, though the cans in a tray may have come from different batches of the same manufacturer, all of the cans that were resold were genuine and unadulterated.
The government charged the Appellees with conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371, interstate transportation of stolen goods under 18 U.S.C. § 2314, trafficking in goods with counterfeit marks under 18 U.S.C. § 2320, selling misbranded goods with the intent to defraud under 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a) and 333(a)(2), money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property under 18 U.S.C. § 1957. At trial, the government attempted to show that some percentage of the baby formula was stolen, that the Appellees knew it was stolen, and that at least $5,000 worth of stolen baby formula had been transported between states to satisfy 18 U.S.C. § 2314. The government also contended that the Appellees counterfeited trademarks on the shipping trays and mislabeled the trays. A jury trial was held, and the Appellees were found guilty on all charges. Following this verdict, the Appellees filed a Fed.R.Crim.P. 29(c) motion for acquittal.
The district court ruled that, despite the jury verdict, the evidence supporting the stolen goods charge was insufficient to meet the $5,000 minimum value threshold required under § 2314. The court also ruled that, as a matter of law, the packaging used by the Appellees did not constitute a counterfeit mark under § 2320 and that the marks on the shipping trays did not constitute "labeling" as a matter of law under 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a) and 333(a)(2). The court then overturned the remainder of the verdict, which was based on the above predicate offenses, except for the conspiracy count. The court held that because the alleged counterfeit mark and misbranding conduct was not unlawful, they could not support a conviction for conspiracy. However, even though there was insufficient evidence to support the interstate transportation of stolen goods charge, that charge could still form the basis of a conspiracy count. As the district court did not know which of these charges was the basis for the jury's verdict on the conspiracy count, the court granted the Appellees a new trial. See Yates v. United States, 354 U.S. 298,