Opinion ID: 803126
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Counts 2 and 3 (mail fraud)

Text: “Mail fraud has two elements: (1) having devised or intending to devise a scheme to defraud (or to perform specified fraudulent acts), and (2) use of the mail for the purpose of executing, or attempting to execute, the scheme (or specified fraudulent acts).” United States v. Van Alstyne, 584 F.3d 803, 814 (9th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). “A participant in a scheme to defraud is liable for acts of mail or wire fraud committed by co-schemers, provided those acts took place during the life of the scheme and . . . were reasonably foreseeable as a necessary and natural consequence of the fraudulent scheme.” United States v. Green, 592 F.3d 1057, 1070 (9th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). 7542 UNITED STATES v. MEREDITH Count 2 charged Meredith and Giordano with causing customer John Spatola to mail a 1995 Form 1040X Individual Income Tax Return, and Count 3 charged them with causing Spatola to mail a 1996 Form 1040 Individual Income Tax Return. At trial, Spatola testified that he learned of WTP and pure trusts from co-defendant Erickson, a relative of Spatola who assisted Meredith with seminars and book sales. Spatola testified that after he read Meredith’s book, “Vultures in Eagle’s Clothing,” Erickson told him he could lawfully avoid paying income taxes. After that conversation, he attended two seminars at which Meredith discussed how to avoid paying taxes. Spatola also testified that Meredith’s book and newsletters instructed readers to file amended tax returns to recover taxes that he had already paid. After Erickson and co-defendant Watts told Spatola that they filed amended returns and received money back, Spatola pursued this strategy and filed amended tax returns, following specific instructions from Meredith’s books. Spatola testified that he would not have amended his returns without these assurances from Erickson and Watts. In July 1998, Spatola received notices from the IRS, stating that he would be penalized for filing frivolous tax returns. After he learned of the penalties, Spatola contacted Erickson, who said that she was studying to become a paralegal, and offered to assist Spatola for a fee. [4] The First Amendment does not prohibit conviction of Meredith and Giordano on Counts 2 and 3. WTP (by way of its owner and employees) did more than encourage Spatola to file fraudulent amended returns. Spatola not only received specific instructions from Meredith’s books and seminars, but he also discussed his plans in detail with Erickson and Watts, who were participants in the overall scheme. These discussions were integral to the crime. Although Spatola did not testify that he had one-on-one interactions with Meredith or Giordano, they both are liable for the reasonably foreseeable actions of their co-schemers. See Green, 592 F.3d at 1070. UNITED STATES v. MEREDITH 7543 Viewing the record in the light most favorable to the prosecution, there is sufficient evidence for a rational jury to find Meredith and Giordano guilty of Counts 2 and 3 beyond a reasonable doubt.