Court Opinion

ID: 9389223
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-25 00:00:24.752101+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:25.915433
License: Public Domain

Case: 21-20609        Document: 00516723405             Page: 1      Date Filed: 04/24/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________
                                                                     United States Court of Appeals
                                                                              Fifth Circuit

                                      No. 21-20609                          FILED
                                    Summary Calendar                    April 24, 2023
                                    ____________                       Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                            Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                                     Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Maxwell Chibueze Ezenwa,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Southern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 4:20-CR-267-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Graves, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
         Maxwell Chibueze Ezenwa appeals his convictions, following a bench
   trial, for wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and
   conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Ezenwa challenges the sufficiency of the
   evidence supporting each count of conviction as well as the district court’s

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 21-20609       Document: 00516723405           Page: 2    Date Filed: 04/24/2023

                                      No. 21-20609

   proposed verdict form insofar as it listed the elements of mail and wire fraud.
   We affirm the judgment.
            We review sufficiency in the context of a bench trial for substantial
   evidence, that is, “evidence sufficient to justify the trial judge, as the trier of
   fact, in concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty.”
   United States v. Knowlton, 993 F.3d 354, 357 (5th Cir. 2021) (internal
   quotation marks and citation omitted). As to wire fraud and conspiracy to
   commit wire fraud, the testimony of numerous witnesses as well as
   documentary evidence supported the convictions. See United States v.
   Sanders, 952 F.3d 263, 277 (5th Cir. 2020); see also United States v. Kuhrt, 788
   F.3d 403, 414 (5th Cir. 2015) (elements of conspiracy). There was evidence
   that one of Ezenwa’s coconspirators, Shalewa Olayinka, obtained stolen
   credit card information from the victims, which Ezenwa and another
   coconspirator, Christy Tifase, used to process fraudulent transactions
   through their respective businesses, Lace Warehouse and Lagos Island Café,
   after which the proceeds of the fraud were withdrawn by Ezenwa and split
   among the three. Ezenwa also maintained fake invoices, which he used to
   substantiate the fraudulent credit card charges when banks issued charge-
   backs.     A postal inspector testified that approximately 70% of Lace
   Warehouse’s credit card sales between 2013 and 2014 were fraudulent, and,
   during an interview with the inspector, Ezenwa admitted to running
   fraudulent credit cards at his business. Finally, none of the victims had
   knowingly bought anything from Lace Warehouse. The evidence amply
   supported the verdict on these counts.
            On the mail fraud counts, the evidence was likewise sufficient. See
   United States v. Evans, 892 F.3d 692, 711 (5th Cir. 2018). Various men,
   whether or not personally known to Ezenwa, befriended women on dating
   websites and eventually convinced them, through promises of investment, to
   mail cashier’s checks for substantial sums of money to CAPS Global—

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Case: 21-20609      Document: 00516723405          Page: 3   Date Filed: 04/24/2023

                                    No. 21-20609

   another of Ezenwa’s companies—or to Ezenwa personally. Rather than
   invest the victims’ money, Ezenwa and coconspirator Onuorah deposited
   their checks into the bank accounts of CAPS Global and Onuorah’s various
   businesses and then wired the money to themselves or to Nigerian
   companies. Ezenwa also endorsed one of the victims’ checks, for $30,000,
   to himself and cashed it. Cf. United States v. Freeman, 434 F.3d 369, 377 (5th
   Cir. 2005). This same evidence supports a conspiracy conviction. See United
   States v. Mann, 493 F.3d 484, 492 (5th Cir. 2007). That Ezenwa may not
   have known all other members of the conspiracy is of no moment. See United
   States v. Gonzalez, 907 F.3d 869, 874 (5th Cir. 2018). The existence of a mail
   fraud conspiracy involving Ezenwa could be sufficiently inferred from the
   concert of action in this case. See Sanders, 952 F.3d at 274.
          Finally, Ezenwa challenges the district court’s verdict form on the
   mail and wire fraud counts. There was no error. See United States v. Tencer,
   103 F.3d 1120, 1127 (5th Cir. 1997).
          AFFIRMED.

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