Opinion ID: 526048
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Furtherance of the Scheme

Text: 41 Despite defendants' argument to the contrary, there is no serious question that the letter of May 23rd was incident to an essential part of the scheme to recover from NYPIUA the losses caused by the fire. The letter alerted Bortnovsky that his claim had not yet been settled and of the need to act promptly to preserve his right under the terms of the policy to recover the sum sought through a civil cause of action. It was thus incidental to the scheme to recover the insurance benefit payments, because it advised the defendants of another route by which they might recover the funds from the NYPIUA, the normal claims processing having proven unsuccessful. 42 In this respect, the mailing is virtually indistinguishable from one of the mailings found to satisfy Sec. 1341's in furtherance requirement in United States v. Draiman, 784 F.2d 248, 253 (7th Cir.1986). There the court rejected the defendant's argument that letters from the attorney for the insurance company, stating that the proofs of loss and supporting documentation were insufficient, conflicted with, rather than furthered, the scheme to defraud the insurance company. The court stated, in words fully applicable to the case at hand, that the defendant was continuing to try to collect, and these letters helped give him another chance. Id. Sapperstein's letter similarly gave Braz and Bortnovsky another chance. This letter is not qualitatively different from that of Draiman simply because the other chance in this case required the defendants to pursue a new avenue of recovery. Cf. United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 452-53, 106 S.Ct. 725, 733-34, 88 L.Ed.2d 814 (1986) (holding mailings concerning partial payments were in furtherance of the scheme because jury could find scheme was not completed until receipt of the last payment ... which finally settled [the] claim). 43 Moreover, mailings, such as the letter of May 23rd, sent as part of the business of processing a claim or transaction have generally been held to be incident to an essential part of the scheme. Most recently, in Schmuck v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1443, 103 L.Ed.2d 734 (1989), the defendant purchased used cars, rolled back their odometers, and then sold the cars to retail dealers at inflated prices. The Court found that the retailer's mailing of title registration forms was essential to the scheme, because it enabled title to pass and thus sustained the dealer's trust of the defendant necessary for the scheme. Id. at ---- - ----, 109 S.Ct. at 1444-1445. See also United States v. Contenti, 735 F.2d 628, 632 (1st Cir.1984) (mailings of notice of loss, acknowledging receipt of loss, and other mailings part of routine to process claim were in furtherance of scheme to defraud); United States v. Muni, 668 F.2d 87, 90 (2d Cir.1981) (interstate communications for credit card authorization numbers were for the purpose of executing a scheme to defraud a bank because the calls were part of the merchant's routine business and the absence of authorization numbers was likely to create suspicion); United States v. Moss, 591 F.2d 428, 436-37 (8th Cir.1979) (letter of insurance company confirming approval of defendant's acceptance of policy and agent's mailing of amendment to company were incident to essential part of scheme because they facilitated processing of insurance policy). In the case at hand, it could be expected, as part of the claim process, that Sapperstein would advise his client of the status of his claim. Just as the mailing to obtain title in Schmuck furthered the scheme by maintaining the defendant's relationship with the retailer, so the letter of May 23rd furthered the scheme to defraud the NYPIUA by encouraging the defendants to pursue their claim. 44 The letter of May 23rd is distinguishable from those in United States v. Dick, 744 F.2d 546, 552 (7th Cir.1984), which were held to be too remotely connected to the scheme to support the mail fraud conviction. In Dick, the defendants conspired to defraud the Small Business Association and two bonding companies for the work of a subcontractor. The court found that the letters to the general contractor describing the subcontractor's progress were not in furtherance of the scheme, because the general contractor presumably did not care who performed the work or at what price. In this case, the defendants cannot be said not to have cared whether the claim was settled or how it might be pursued. 45 Moreover, it is also distinguishable from the mailing in United States v. Tackett, 646 F.2d 1240, 1244 (8th Cir.1981), that was held to be insufficiently related to the scheme alleged to be encompassed by Sec. 1341. In Tackett, the court found that the mailing of an agreement by the defendant to a business associate embodying their agreement to form a partnership to purchase property was not related to the scheme because the defendant received no further payments from the associate nor did he attempt to contact him again. Thus, the court concluded that the defendant's scheme had reached fruition because his failure to act subsequently indicated that he had finished milking [the associate]. Id. In the case at hand, however, after receiving Sapperstein's letter, the defendants filed a civil suit. Accordingly, the reasoning of Tackett is inapplicable to this case. 46 Finally, the letter of May 23rd was not likely to spark or enhance the probability of detection and thus fall outside the scope of Sec. 1341 as was true of the items mailed in United States v. Maze, 414 U.S. 395, 403, 94 S.Ct. 645, 650, 38 L.Ed.2d 603 (1974); United States v. Pietri Giraldi, 864 F.2d 222, 224-26 (1st Cir.1988); United States v. Castile, 795 F.2d 1273, 1278-81 (6th Cir.1986); United States v. Otto, 742 F.2d 104, 109 (3d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1196, 105 S.Ct. 978, 83 L.Ed.2d 980 (1985); and United States v. LaFerriere, 546 F.2d 182, 187 (5th Cir.1977). Nor was it mailed after the defendants had reaped the fruits of the scheme so that it could no longer further the scheme. United States v. Maze, 414 U.S. at 402, 94 S.Ct. at 649; United States v. Ledesma, 632 F.2d 670, 677-78 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 998, 101 S.Ct. 539, 66 L.Ed.2d 296 (1980); Garrick-Aug Assoc. Store Leasing, Inc. v. Hirschfeld, 652 F.Supp. 905, 907 (S.D.N.Y.1986).