U.S.A. v. Bruner

Summarized by J. Debbeler , Bricker Graydon LLP
10 years 7 months ago

Citation:

15a0543n.06; Case No. 14-5990

Tag(s):

Ruling:

District Court correctly found that defendant in a trial for bankruptcy fraud and other offenses did not offer a sufficient factual predicate to warrant an instruction to the jury on the advice of counsel defense. The Sixth Circuit found no abuse of discretion.

Procedural context:

Defendant was convicted of 14 counts, including bankruptcy fraud. From 2003-2013 defendant fraudulently collected Social Security income by making false statements that she was unable to work and by concealing her income and assets. She also defrauded Medicare. The defendant also made several false declarations when she filed for bankruptcy and subsequently engaged in financial transactions with the funds from the fraud. The defendant's trust and estates lawyer and her bankruptcy lawyer testified at her trial but the defendant did no testify. The District Court found that the defendant did not fully disclose information to her bankruptcy lawyer and the other lawyer did not know she had filed for bankruptcy until after the fact. The District Court gave the jury an instruction on good faith but declined to give the advice of counsel defense instruction. The Sixth Circuit found no abuse of discretion.

Facts:

Defendant collected SSI for ten years by making false statements. She collected millions form medicare on a fraudulent basis. Defendant consulted the trusts and estate lawyer and executed several irrevocable trusts. Defendant saw the bankruptcy lawyer, asked a vague question about the trusts, and filled out her bankruptcy schedules. She omitted a large sum of cash, several homes and some vehicles. She later admitted to the false statements but claimed her counsel told her what to list on the schedules.

Judge(s):

Boggs and Donald, Circuit Judges, and Quist, District Judge, sitting by desgnation

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