Supreme Court of the United States

“ With profuse citations to the records below, the Government asks us to cherry-pick facts presented to a jury charged on the right-to-control theory and apply them to the elements of a different wire fraud theory in the first instance. In other words, the Government asks us to assume not only the function of a court of first view, but also of a jury. That is not our role. ”

“ The opinion of the Court correctly answers the sole question posed to us: whether the right-to-control theory supports liability under the federal wire fraud statute. The jury instructions embody that theory, and therefore this error, unless harmless, requires the reversal of the judgment below. ”

“ Under the right-to-control theory, a defendant is guilty of wire fraud if he schemes to deprive the victim of “potentially valuable economic information” “necessary to make discretionary economic decisions.” United States v. Percoco, 13 F. 4th 158, 170 (CA2 2021) (internal quotation marks omitted) . Petitioner Louis Ciminelli was charged with, tried for, and convicted of wire fraud under this theory. And the Second Circuit affirmed his convictions on that same basis. ”