Opinion ID: 77683
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sufficiency—Count Three

Text: 61 As for Count Three, the record contradicts Ward's claim that the evidence concerning his participation in wire fraud was insufficient. The record is replete with evidence showing that Ward acted as a principal in causing the Johnses' wire transfer of $45,000 on April 24, 2000, from Florida to California. 62 To begin with, Ward was the primary contact for Randy and Ellen Johns when they first invested in CEC. When Randy Johns first saw the CEC newspaper advertisement, it was Ward who answered his initial phone inquiries and promised him that his investments in CEC would yield a remarkable annual interest rate of 45% or a monthly interest rate of 3.75%. It was the defendant Ward who convinced Randy Johns to fly to California to meet with him and Pipher. And it was Ward whom Ellen Johns contacted when the interest payments ceased to arrive in the mail after October 2001. In light of this involvement in the Johnses' investments in CEC, there was more than enough evidence to allow a jury to find that Ward in fact caused Ellen Johns to make the wire transfer on April 24, 2000. But, again, even if Ward had not caused the particular wire transfer, under our law he would still be liable for the wire fraud. Moreover, the wires were repeatedly used in the course of business by CEC, Ward and Pipher, and, undeniably, it was foreseeable that the wires would be used. See Pereira, 347 U.S. at 8-9, 74 S.Ct. 358.