United States v. Jacobs

• Decision Date: 05 March 1973
• Docket Number: Dockets 72-1897,72-2006 and 72-2318.,No. 543-545,543-545
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Herbert R. JACOBS et al., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

475 F.2d 270 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Herbert R. JACOBS et al., Defendants-Appellants.

Nos. 543-545, Dockets 72-1897, 72-2006 and 72-2318.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued January 19, 1973.

Decided March 5, 1973.

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John W. Nields, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty. (Whitney North Seymour, Jr., U. S. Atty., S. D. N. Y., Edward J. Kuriansky, and Michael B. Mukasey, Asst. U. S. Attys., of counsel), for appellee.

Henry J. Boitel, New York City (Abraham H. Brodsky, New York City, of counsel), for appellant Jacobs.

Joseph L. Belvedere, Brooklyn, N. Y., for appellant Lavelle.

J. Stanley Shaw, New York City (Jesse I. Levine, and Irving L. Weinberger, New York City, of counsel), for appellant Thaler.

Before FRIENDLY, Chief Judge, and OAKES and TIMBERS, Circuit Judges.

FRIENDLY, Chief Judge:

Appellants were tried in the District Court for the Southern District of New York before Judge Gurfein and a jury, on a six-count superseding indictment. Count I charged appellants Jacobs, Lavelle and Thaler with conspiring with David Altschul in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371¹ either to violate 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314 and 2315, relating, among other things, to dealings in stolen securities—in this instance United States Treasury Bills— which have moved or are to move in interstate commerce or to defraud the United States by causing treasury bills to be presented for payment, knowing that they had been stolen. Jacobs and Lavelle were convicted but Thaler was acquitted on this count. Counts Two and Three charged Jacobs, Lavelle and Thaler with substantive violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314 and 2315; all were convicted on both counts. Counts Four through Seven charged Thaler with making various false material declarations before the grand jury in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1623. He was convicted on Count Four, relating to a statement that he had not entered into a commission agreement with Altschul. He was acquitted on Counts Five and Six, which charged him with having falsely told the grand jury that Altschul had indicated to him that Jacobs was the owner of the bills and that no one had ever indicated that Jacobs was acting for anyone else, and with having falsely denied ever meeting Lavelle. Count Seven had been dismissed during the trial.

Lavelle later moved for a judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy counts and a new trial on the two substantive counts on which he had been convicted; Thaler moved for a judgment of acquittal on all counts or, in the alternative, for a new trial based, inter alia, on newly discovered evidence. The judge denied both motions.

Defendants received relatively light sentences—Jacobs one year and one day on each of the three counts on which he had been convicted, to be served concurrently; Lavelle, two years on each count, to be served concurrently, and a committed $10,000 fine on Count One; and Thaler, one year and one day on each of the three counts on which he had been convicted, to be served concurrently, and a committed $10,000 fine on Count Two.

I. The Evidence

Because appellants have questioned the sufficiency of the evidence, it becomes necessary to state the facts in some detail.²

In early August, 1970, more than $1.5 million in United States Treasury Bills of various maturity dates were found to be missing and unaccounted for from the vaults of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., a large New York City banking and brokerage firm. The details of this apparent theft did not appear at trial, and none of the defendants was charged with participating in it. Ten of the bills ultimately identified to be part of the Brown Brothers Harriman theft, with face (matured) values totalling $800,000, first appeared in the possession of Lavelle in mid-September, 1970.³ Around September 15, Lavelle approached Jacobs, a long-time friend and business associate, showed him one of the bills, and suggested that Jacobs find a way to sell it. According to Jacobs, he first tried to sell the bill at his brokerage house, which declined since he had not bought it there and advised taking it to a bank. He then went to a savings bank where he maintained an account, which declined to handle the bill since it was not yet due, and advised taking it to a Federal Reserve Bank. Instead he went to the office of his attorney, David Altschul, whom he asked to find a purchaser for the bill and further bills held by Lavelle. In this or a subsequent conversation, Altschul testified, Jacobs first indicated that he expected a "commission" or finders' fee for his participation in any eventual sale.

After Jacobs left, Altschul broached the subject of Jacobs' visit and the sale of the bills to Thaler, a lawyer and New York State Senator with whom Altschul shared office space. Thaler questioned whether the bills were legitimate, to which Altschul replied that Jacobs had gotten them from Lavelle⁴ and that Jacobs said they were legitimate. The next day, Jacobs, Altschul and Thaler met in Altschul's office. Jacobs reported that Lavelle had $800,000 worth of bills which he was willing to sell for 40-50% of maturity value, including a 10% fee for the middlemen. The meeting ended with an understanding that Thaler would seek a buyer for the bills, and that the three would share the 10% fee.

With the essential agreement thus set, the next phase centered on the possibility of selling the bills to a client of Thaler named Fred Hill, a prosperous New York real estate dealer. Thaler approached Hill, a longtime friend and client, with a proposal to sell as much as $1,000,000 worth of treasury bills at a great discount. Hill initially dismissed the idea as ridiculous, reasoning that treasury bills—especially those past due—were essentially equivalents of their face value in dollar bills, and that the deal must have hidden defects. At Thaler's request, however, Hill agreed to meet with a banker to discuss the proposed transaction. On September 30, 1970, Hill and Thaler met with a Mr. Fitzgerald, vice-president of a Chemical Bank branch near Thaler's office. Thaler outlined the deal, telling Fitzgerald that he had a client who had "some problems, mental or tax-wise, I don't know, and wants to handle this this way"; neither Thaler nor Hill, however, mentioned the size of the proposed discount. Fitzgerald, who was not called as a witness, allegedly said that sales at a discount might well be legitimate for tax or other reasons, but that Hill would in any event be adequately protected if he put the bills in for collection and delayed payment until he had himself received payment from the Treasury, thereby, as Fitzgerald thought, dispelling any possibility of the illegitimacy of the bills. They therefore agreed that Hill would leave the bills with the bank for collection; that, upon payment from the Treasury, Hill's buying price would be deposited in a joint account to be set up by Thaler and Altschul; and that the remainder—Hill's profit—would be deposited in his personal account.

Before continuing with the plan, Hill discussed the matter with another attorney and, on the basis of the latter's skepticism, had recurring doubts about the legitimacy of the deal, which he communicated to Thaler. In response and at various later times, Thaler assured Hill that he, Thaler, was personally convinced of the validity of the deal; that he had checked out the deal with a friend or friends in—indeed one of them the head of—the racket squad of a state district attorney's office;⁵ and that the original seller was a wealthy client of Altschul who earned over $70,000 a year and whose family Altschul had represented for many years.

Meanwhile, Jacobs and Lavelle met with Thaler and Altschul in the latter's office.⁶ Lavelle at this point delivered the entire $800,000 worth of bills to Thaler and Altschul, and agreed upon a formula for the sale:—65% for the buyer, 25% for Lavelle, and 10% to be split among Thaler, Altschul and Jacobs.⁷ Both Altschul and Jacobs testified that at no point during this meeting did either Altschul or Thaler question Lavelle about the source of the bills or his reason for selling at such a large discount.

On October 5, 1970, Thaler, carrying $350,000 of the bills, returned with Hill to the Chemical Bank branch. Hill testified that on the way, Thaler, after repeating his assurances of the legitimacy of the deal, mentioned that there was an agreement in which "he, Altschul and a middle-man" were going to split their commission.⁸ At the bank the two were joined by Altschul. Hill showed the bills to Fitzgerald, who indicated that nothing appeared wrong with them on their face.⁹ Hill then gave Fitzgerald a letter instructing the bank to present the treasury bills for collection, to place $280,000 of the $350,000 in expected proceeds in a joint account in the names of Thaler and Altschul, and to deposit the rest in Hill's account.¹⁰

The next day, October 6, 1970, Thaler and Hill placed some of the remainder of the $800,000 in bills in a safe deposit box at a branch of the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. Later that day, the two met with Hill's accountant who opined, as had Hill's other advisers, that the size of the discount could only indicate shady dealing. At Thaler's request and in order to calm Hill's fears, Altschul wrote a Hill a letter indicating that he knew Jacobs and his family well.¹¹

On October 7, 1970 Fitzgerald advised Hill that the Treasury Department would not accept the past due bills¹² without receiving a certificate of ownership. Two days later, Thaler and Hill delivered a completed certificate, prepared by Thaler and signed by Hill, showing that Hill had purchased the bills from Altschul. This document, the only communication ever submitted by defendants to the Treasury Department, indicated that Hill had purchased $250,000 of bills for $225,000—a discount of only 10% as against the 20% reflected in Hill's letter of instructions to Fitzgerald...