United States v. Lewis
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 20518 (2013)
- Written by Robert Cane, JD
Facts
Joyce Lewis (defendant) was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Lewis and her son had obtained mortgage and home-equity loans based on false employment and income information. Lewis admitted to never reading the papers for a mortgage application on her home, which were submitted on her behalf. She stated that she signed the mortgage document in over 25 places without reading any of it. The documents were prepared by Lewis’s son and his girlfriend. Previously, Lewis’s son had taken out a home-equity loan in Lewis’s name even though he told her that she was merely being listed as a guarantor. Also, more than one of Lewis’s sons had given her large cash gifts in the past without explanation as to the source or reason other than gratitude. At trial, the district instructed the jury that Lewis may be found guilty of conspiracy if she “acted with a conscious purpose to avoid learning the truth” about a criminal objective. The jury found Lewis guilty. Lewis appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lynch, Chin, Carney, J.J.)
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