Opinion ID: 793369
Heading Depth: 7
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Character of the Crime

Text: 97 The bank fraud alleged in the affidavit was not a one-time occurrence but was rather a systematic transfer of funds between accounts held by Defendants. According to the FBI analysis for the period of June 1, 1999 to August 31, 1999, Defendant Michel Abboud alone was the signer of 1,276 checks involved in the check kite, with a total value of about $89 million. 98 The Court has found that [e]vidence of ongoing criminal activity will generally defeat a claim of staleness. United States v. Greene, 250 F.3d 471, 481 (6th Cir.2001). In Greene, the magistrate issued a search warrant on January 8, 1999. Id. at 475. The search warrant was based on information supplied by an informant, who had last purchased narcotics at the defendant's house in February 1997; however, he had purchased narcotics at least twelve times at the defendant's house. Id. at 476. The Court found that the continuous and ongoing nature of the illegal activity was a sufficient answer to the defendant's claim of staleness. Id. at 481. 99 Likewise, in this case, the affidavit stated that Defendant Michel Abboud engaged in bank fraud numerous times during a three-month period in 1999. While the affidavit did not list sufficient probable cause for any time after 1999, so as to establish a continuous criminal enterprise from 1999 to the issuance of the warrant in 2002, this Court's jurisprudence suggests that ongoing criminal activity at a given time may be sufficient to defeat a claim of staleness. See id. at 481; see also United States v. Canan, 48 F.3d 954, 959 (6th Cir.1995) (finding ongoing activity at the defendant's house four years prior to the issuance of the search warrant was sufficient to defeat a claim of staleness). 100