Opinion ID: 777545
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Evidentiary Sufficiency of Elaine Szur's Money Laundering Conviction

Text: 84 Elaine Szur argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish that she committed money laundering. As discussed in Part II, Szur and Elaine Szur were convicted on counts Twenty-three and Twenty-four of money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i), which charged that Slutsky transferred wire fraud proceeds in the amounts of $40,000 and $10,000 into a NuFocus bank account on May 13, 1996 and May 17, 1996, respectively. 85 We review challenges to evidentiary sufficiency de novo, view[ing] the evidence presented in the light most favorable to the government, and ... draw[ing] all reasonable inferences in its favor. United States v. Autuori, 212 F.3d 105, 114 (2d Cir.2000). A defendant challenging his conviction on sufficiency grounds bears a heavy burden. United States v. Finley, 245 F.3d 199, 202 (2d Cir.2001), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 122 S.Ct. 1101, 151 L.Ed.2d 997 (2002). [T]he conviction must be sustained if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Fiore, 821 F.2d 127, 128 (2d Cir.1987); see Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781. 86 To establish the knowledge element required to convict a defendant of money laundering, the government must prove that the defendant knew of the transaction's obfuscatory purpose. United States v. Maher, 108 F.3d 1513, 1526 (2d Cir.1997). Elaine Szur argues that the government failed to prove this element at trial. Specifically, she contends that simply being a recipient of the funds is insufficient to establish the requisite intent and that there was no evidence showing that she knew the wire transfers into her account were designed to conceal or disguise the funds. We disagree. 87 The evidence established that Elaine Szur was the owner and president of NuFocus at the time the funds from Slutsky were received, and that, after the funds from Slutsky were deposited in the NuFocus account, Elaine Szur wired the funds to accounts controlled by her son. The jury could have reasonably inferred that NuFocus itself had done nothing to warrant the receipt of any funds from Slutsky. Viewed in the light most favorable to the government, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude that Elaine Szur knew of the obfuscatory purpose of the May 1996 transfers and that, by washing the funds through the NuFocus account, she participated in the transfers to help conceal the nature, source, and identity of the money. See United States v. Willey, 57 F.3d 1374, 1384-87 & n. 24 (5th Cir. 1995) (rejecting argument that there was no design to conceal when transactions were conducted using accounts to which defendants had known relationship). Accordingly, we affirm Elaine Szur's conviction on both money laundering counts.