Jeffrey Batio v. United States

Proving federal mail or wire fraud requires proving a defendant’s specific intent to defraud. A defendant’s good faith that his representations are true is a defense to fraudulent intent. Alleged fraudulent schemes can vary in nature and scope. An alleged fraudulent scheme might involve just one kind of misrepresentation repeated to many different people. On the other hand, an alleged fraudulent scheme might involve many different kinds of alleged misrepresentations, and so a defendant might have different intent with respect to different kinds of statements. Under the operative rule in the Seventh Circuit, a jury is required to disregard a defendant’s good faith across the board if the defendant makes any false and fraudulent misrepresentations. Over petitioner’s objection, the trial court so instructed the jury. The indictment in this case charged petitioner with a scheme that allegedly included financial misrepresentations, technological misrepresentations, track-record misrepresentations, and marketing misrepresentations. The jury convicted petitioner of mail and wire fraud. The question presented is as follows: Does it improperly deprive a defendant of his defense of good faith when a jury is instructed that, if the jury finds any “false and fraudulent representations,” it must disregard a defendant’s good faith in all representations?