Shaw v. United States

Shaw v. United States, 580 U.S. ___ (2016), was a United States Supreme Court case that clarified the application of the federal bank fraud statute to cases where a defendant intends to only defraud a customer of the bank, rather than the bank itself.[1]

Shaw v. United States
Argued October 4, 2016
Decided December 12, 2016
Full case nameLawrence Eugene Shaw, Petitioner v. United States
Docket no.15–5991
Citations580 U.S. ___ (more)
137 S. Ct. 462; 196 L. Ed. 2d 372
Opinion announcementOpinion announcement
Case history
PriorUnited States v. Shaw, 781 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 2015)
Court membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate Justices
Anthony Kennedy · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan
Case opinion
MajorityBreyer, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
18 U.S.C. § 1344

Background

Lawrence Shaw received the information from a bank account at Bank of America that belonged to a customer, Stanley Hsu. Shaw used that information to take money from Hsu but did not directly steal from the bank. Shaw was convicted under a federal statute criminalizing fraud against banks and appealed, arguing his target was its customer.

Decision

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the Court held that a scheme to defraud customers also deprives the bank of money in which the bank held a "property right", and criminal defendants may therefore be convicted under the federal statute for schemes to defraud bank customers.[2] However, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to determine whether the trial court administered an erroneous jury instruction.[3]

See also

References
  1. Shaw v. United States, No. 15–5991, 580 U.S. ___ (2016), slip. op. at 1.
  2. Shaw, slip. op. at 1-3.
  3. Shaw, slip. op. at 8-9.
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