Opinion ID: 778482
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Checks and Bank Records

Text: 47 As with the sales orders and verification tapes, Defendants challenge the district court's decision to admit certain checks and AEA bank records 12 on the ground that AEA customers provided the information in these records. This argument is meritless as to the bank records. The information in the bank records arose out of the banks' first-hand observation of transactions related to the AEA accounts they maintained. Essentially, each deposit slip represented the bank's independent recording of an amount of money received for a particular account. Thus, it is clear that the banks were the source of the information in the bank records. 48 Defendants' argument is slightly more compelling as to the checks, given that the name and amount on each check were provided by an AEA customer, and there is no indication that the banks took steps to verify the truth of this information. However, we need not pass on whether the checks were properly admitted under the business records exception, as we conclude that any error that might have resulted from their admission was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Olano, 62 F.3d 1180, 1189 (9th Cir.1995) (noting that we review for harmless error a district court's improper admission of hearsay). 49 The checks to which Defendants object were offered by the government to demonstrate the size of the fraud perpetrated by AEA, which in turn tended to demonstrate knowledge of the fraud on the part of AEA's employees (it would be difficult to accept a claim of ignorance when the organization was conducting illicit activities on such a grand scale). The checks were no doubt useful in conveying to the jury the magnitude of AEA's scheme. Each one, with its accompanying deposit slip, represented a deposit of funds generated by the Atlanta office of AEA, an office that was shown to have made money only by fraud. 13 The number of checks offered, and the dollar amounts represented therein, demonstrated that AEA's fraud was extensive both in terms of the total number of people affected and the total dollar amount lost. However, even without the checks, there was sufficient evidence in the record to lead the jury to conclude that AEA conducted its illegal operation on a grand scale. 50 The evidence at trial showed that AEA's Atlanta office made fraudulent telemarketing sales for roughly 18 months. During that time, the office pitched about 1000 consumers each week, which produced enough business during the life of AEA to justify at least 1300 customer verification calls on the part of Ms. Eames. Each call was made only after the relevant customer's check was received, and it was shown that the Phoenix office received checks stemming from Atlanta sales on a daily basis. Testimonial evidence showed that the reloaders in Atlanta did as much as $250,000 in sales in one week, with individual reloaders occasionally making more than $100,000 in sales in a one-week period. Finally, the small percentage of victims who appeared at trial collectively testified to sending well over one million dollars to AEA. In light of this evidence, the jury could easily conclude that AEA was a large, sophisticated scheme. As such, the checks, to the extent they tended to corroborate this depiction of AEA, were merely cumulative, and their admission was harmless. 14