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Edwards: Conspiracy Evidence Sufficient

By Tim Cone

In U.S. v. Edwards, No. 06-11643 (May 5, 2008), the Court affirmed fraud and money laundering convictions arising out of a Ponzi scheme involving investments in coin-operated payphones.Edwards failed to renew his motion for judgment of acquittal at the close of all the evidence, as required by Fed. R. Crim. P. 29. Accordingly, the Court reviewed his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence only for "a manifest miscarriage of justice." The Court held that the evidence was sufficient, noting that Edwards was aggressively courting investors with claims that his company was sound and profitable, when it was, in reality, "hemorrhaging money." Turning to the conspiracy conviction, the court noted that since conspiracies are "inevitably secret," they are "rarely established by direct evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on May 06, 2008 (boomark / email).