Opinion ID: 798947
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Mail Fraud Conviction

Text: On appeal, Litwok contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a guilty verdict of aiding and abetting mail fraud because she neither consciously assisted nor directly facilitated or encouraged the fraud related to the Duke Drive lodging reimbursement claim, which was the only fraud charged in the Indictment. See United States v. Medina, 32 F.3d 40, 45 (2d Cir.1994). We disagree. The aiding and abetting statute requires only that `the underlying crime was committed by someone other than the defendant and that the defendant [her]self either acted or failed to act with the specific intent of advancing the commission of the underlying crime.' United States v. Smith, 198 F.3d 377, 383 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting United States v. Pipola, 83 F.3d 556, 562 (2d Cir.1996)); see 18 U.S.C. § 2. With respect to the underlying mail fraud, the Government had to prove three elements: (1) a scheme to defraud, (2) money or property as the object of the scheme, and (3) use of the mails . . . to further the scheme. United States v. Shellef, 507 F.3d 82, 107 (2d Cir.2007) (quotation mark omitted). The Government carried this burden. At trial, there was no dispute that the lodging reimbursement claim submitted to Chubb as part of the Duke Drive claim was fraudulent. The only real issue was whether Litwok intentionally assisted that fraud. [1] The law is well established that the government may secure conviction based solely on circumstantial evidence, provided it is sufficient to prove the elements of the charged crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Abu-Jihaad, 630 F.3d 102, 135 (2d Cir.2010), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 3062, 180 L.Ed.2d 892 (2011). The primary evidence of Litwok's intent was the false receipt submitted for additional living expenses at the guesthouse. Although the evidence was hardly overwhelming, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could find that Litwok helped to obtain the false receipt based on the following: (1) the Duke Drive claim form listed Litwok as the contact person, and Litwok contacted Chubb to discuss the claim; (2) Litwok's name appeared on the false receipt; (3) the fraud proceeds were deposited into an account that Litwok jointly controlled; (4) there was no evidence that Eilat, whose name also appeared on the receipt, procured the receipt or benefited from the insurance claim; and (5) Eilat alleged that Litwok had forged her signature on the Duke Drive and Aborigine Way claims and the settlement checks. In addition, the transcript of the recorded conversation between Litwok and Lehr suggests that Litwok was aware of the receipt at the time it was procured and submitted. The transcript also indicates that Litwok was aware of certain details of the false insurance claim relating to the stay at the guesthouse, and knew where the fraud proceeds were deposited. The jury was entitled to infer from this evidence that Litwok's knowledge of these facts was due to her involvement in the scheme to defraud Chubb. The transcript also documents Litwok's attempts to explain the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fraudulent receipt and cover up the fraud. Litwok's efforts to cover up the fraud against Chubb constitute only evidence of consciousness of guilt and, without more, such evidence is `insufficient proof on which to convict where other evidence of guilt is weak and the evidence before the court is as hospitable to an interpretation consistent with the defendant's innocence as it is to the Government's theory of guilt.' United States v. Ogando, 547 F.3d 102, 109 (2d Cir.2008) (quoting United States v. Johnson, 513 F.2d 819, 824 (2d Cir.1975)). Taken together, however, all of the evidence marshaled at trial, including the other portions of the transcript unrelated to Litwok's attempt to cover up the fraud, sufficed to show that Litwok alone was in a position both to help procure the false receipt and benefit from the proceeds of the fraud, that she intended to assist in the fraud, and that she was aware that her conduct was unlawful. Pointing to the lack of evidence that she signed any of the Chubb settlement checks, Litwok asserts that there was no evidence that she shared in the proceeds of the fraud. But the Postal Inspector testified that funds from her joint account were used to purchase artwork sent to Litwok from a gallery owned by Ruth Veredthe name that appeared on the guesthouse receipt. Moreover, in Litwok's taped conversation with Lehr, Litwok herself implicitly attests both to the connection between the artwork and the money in her joint account and to her knowledge that the account contained fraudulently obtained funds by assuring Lehr that Litwok was not going to testify to art work or a check, or anything. The Inspector's testimony and that of Litwok's former assistant, Ms. Kratochvil, reinforced the Government's argument that Litwok controlled the joint account and was thus aware of, and benefited from, the fraudulent transaction related to the lodging reimbursement. At trial, Litwok also argued that Eilat had defrauded Chubb and had framed Litwok. But the jury was entitled to weigh the evidence and reject that contention. See United States v. Torres, 604 F.3d 58, 67 (2d Cir.2010) ([W]e defer to a jury's assessments with respect to credibility and conflicting testimony, and to its choice between the competing inferences that can be drawn from the evidence. . . .). The jury was presented with evidence relating to the Aborigine Way claim, which was admitted without objection from Litwok, [2] and from which the jury could have inferred that Litwok was personally involved in a larger fraudulent scheme that included the false lodging reimbursement claim. For example, the Postal Inspector testified that, when he visited the Duke Drive home and found the patio furniture that had been purportedly damaged at the Aborigine Way house, Litwok asked him not to confiscate her furniture. Similarly, both the Duke Drive and the Aborigine Way claims included false estimates of damages from Litwok's home contractor. Both claims also reported the same type of damage requiring the same type of repairs specifically, water damage requiring repair or replacement of hardwood floors. From all of this evidence the jury could infer that Litwok was involved in a fraudulent scheme that included the submission of the Aborigine Way claim, the Duke Drive claim, and, in particular, the Duke Drive lodging reimbursement claim charged in the Indictment. Evaluating the evidence `not in isolation but in conjunction,' we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the mail fraud conviction. Id.