Opinion ID: 70392
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: The issue to be decided in this case is whether an officer and majority shareholder's criminal activity is imputable to a corporation so as to deny the corporation an innocent owner defense in a forfeiture action. Today, we hold that where a corporate employee engages in criminal activity outside the scope of his employment, with no benefit accruing to the corporation, and such activity was without the knowledge of the other shareholders, the criminal activity is not imputable to the corporation. We therefore reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment for the United States, and remand the case for entry of summary judgment in favor of the claimant corporation, Dyer's Trout Farms, Inc. Because we find that the innocent owner exception applies, we do not reach the second issue raised by the corporation—whether the forfeiture of the property was disproportionally excessive in violation of the Eighth Amendment.1