Justia U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendants were convicted on charges arising from an elaborate, years-long financial fraud. Defendant Gowing continued to take actions in furtherance of the conspiracy to defraud even after he was arrested and released awaiting trial for that same charge. On appeal, Gowing principally argued that the district court's application of 18 U.S.C. 3147 was error because he did not commit a separate or additional offense while on release, but only continued to commit the conspiracy. Because the statute did not make such a distinction, and because Gowing's other sentencing arguments were without merit, the court affirmed the convictions and sentences. View "United States v. Gowing" on Justia Law

Defendants appealed from the district court's holding that defendants were liable to plaintiff in the total amount of $4,965,898.95 for profits earned in short-swing insider trading and from an order denying defendants' motion for reconsideration. At issue, inter alia, was the rarely-construed "debt exception" to liability under Section 16(b) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, 15 U.S.C. 78p(b), and the treatment of "hybrid" derivative securities under Section 16(b). The court agreed with the district court that the acquisition of the 2004 Note was a purchase of a security for purposes of Section 16(b), that the conversion of the 2004 Note was also a Section 16(b) purchase, and that neither of these purchases came within the debt and borderline transaction exceptions to section 16(b) liability. The court further concurred that Tonga and Cannell Capital, in addition to Cannell, were subject to disgorgement of profits, and the court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendants' motion for reconsideration. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Analytical Surveys, Inc. v. Tonga Partners, L.P., et al." on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of transporting into his state of residence a firearm acquired in another state in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(3). Defendant appealed on the ground that section 922(a)(3) violated his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The court held that, in light of the ample alternative means of acquiring firearms for self-defense purposes, section 922(a)(3) did not impose a substantial burden on the exercise of defendant's Second Amendment rights. Since section 922(a)(3) did not burden defendant's Second Amendment rights in a away so substantial as to justify heightened scrutiny, his facial challenge to the statute also must fail. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Decastro" on Justia Law