Opinion ID: 741894
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overlap Between Bank Fraud and False Statement Counts

Text: 23 The first argument is that the charges of fraud and making false statements penalize the same conduct and therefore violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The appropriate inquiry is whether Congress intended to prescribe multiple punishments for the same conduct. Albernaz v. United States, 450 U.S. 333, 344, 101 S.Ct. 1137, 1145, 67 L.Ed.2d 275 (1981); United States v. Alerta, 96 F.3d 1230, 1238 (9th Cir.1996). The Supreme Court has held that the test from Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 52 S.Ct. 180, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932), governs this determination. Albernaz, 450 U.S. at 337-39, 101 S.Ct. at 1141-42. Thus, if each offense requires proof of a fact that the other does not, the offenses are not multiplicitous, absent a clear indication of contrary legislative intent. Id.; Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304, 52 S.Ct. at 182. 24 Whether sections 1344 and 1014 are multiplicitous appears to be a question of first impression in this circuit. Other circuits have split on the issue. The Second Circuit has held that, at least in some circumstances, the crimes are multiplicitous. See United States v. Seda, 978 F.2d 779, 781-82 (2d Cir.1992). The First Circuit, on the other hand, recently decided that the two offenses met the Blockburger test. See United States v. Fraza, 106 F.3d 1050, 1054 (1st Cir.1997). No court has reviewed this issue since the Supreme Court's interpretation of the elements of section 1014 in Wells. 25 Initially, we agree with the First Circuit that in evaluating this question we should look to the elements of the offenses alone, rather than the way they are charged in the indictment, as in Seda. Following this approach, we also find that section 1014 and 1344 satisfy the Blockburger test. Section 1344 requires proof that defendant knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud a federally insured institution or to obtain money under the custody or control of such an institution by means of material false statements or representations. Hutchison, 22 F.3d at 851. Section 1014 requires the government to show that the defendant made a knowing, false statement to the bank for the purpose of influencing its action on a loan. See id.; Wells, --- U.S. at ---- - ----, 117 S.Ct. at 926-27. Section 1344 clearly requires proof of elements that section 1014 does not; there must be a scheme or artifice, and the false representations must be material. 26 The more difficult question is whether section 1014 requires proof of any element that section 1344 does not. Although there are probably few cases of bank fraud that do not involve making a false statement to a federally insured institution, section 1014 requires that the statement be made to influence action on a loan. The bank fraud statute, which is written more broadly, technically does not. It is enough that the defendant attempt to obtain money under the custody or control of a bank; the statement need not be intended to influence action on a loan, even if that is a principal way of obtaining money from a bank. Since there is no other evidence that Congress intended to prohibit charging defendants with both crimes, we hold that the indictment under both sections 1014 and 1344 for the same conduct is not multiplicitous.