THE NINTH CIRCUIT REVERSES $126 MILLION MAIL FRAUD CONVICTIONS IN LANDMARK DECISION

In a tremendous win in front of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court reversed the mail fraud convictions of several defendants including Mr. Khojayan’s client. The trial had lasted 26 days, had 43 witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence. The defendants had gone to trial, fought and raised the same issues on appeal. The case resulted in an important decision that helps all defendants, holding that a false representation that results in money changing hands is not fraud unless it goes to the “nature of the bargain” by implicating concerns such as “price, or quality, or otherwise to essential aspects of the transaction” rather than merely “collateral matters” that did not prevent the buyer from receiving “the product that she expected at the price she expected.” United States v. Milheiser, — F.4th —, No. 21-50162 (9th Cir. 2024).