U.S. v. Guiliano

• Decision Date: 10 March 1981
• Docket Number: D,No. 333,333
• Citation: 644 F.2d 85
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Eugene Henry GUILIANO, Defendant-Appellant. ocket 80-1291.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Page 85

644 F.2d 85

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Eugene Henry GUILIANO, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 333, Docket 80-1291.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued Oct. 21, 1980.

Decided March 10, 1981.

Stephen M. Behar, Central Islip, N.Y., for defendant-appellant.

Max Sayah, Asst. U.S. Atty., Brooklyn, N.Y. (Edward R. Korman, U.S. Atty., Harvey M. Stone, Asst. U.S. Atty., Brooklyn, N.Y., on brief), for plaintiff-appellee.

Before TIMBERS and NEWMAN, Circuit Judges, and PORT, ^* District Judge.

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge:

Eugene Guiliano appeals from a judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York (George C. Pratt, Judge) convicting him, after a jury trial, of aiding and abetting in the conduct of the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) (the RICO Act) (Count 1), and in the concealment from a bankruptcy trustee of property belonging to the estate of a bankrupt in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152 (Counts 3 and 4). ¹ Appellant challenges primarily the sufficiency of the evidence. We reverse the judgment and order a retrial on one of the bankruptcy fraud counts (Count 3).

Guiliano and a co-defendant, Frank P. Spinale, were indicted for racketeering and bankruptcy fraud as a result of the bankruptcies of two corporations, Archie's Acres, Inc. and Vantage Produce Sales, Inc. Archie's Acres was a produce retailer owned and operated by Spinale. The company opened its first store in November 1974. At the peak of its business, the store sold $45,000 of produce, dairy, and delicatessen items each week, but the sales did not keep pace with the company's purchases. To provide another outlet for the inventory, the company opened a second store in the fall of 1975. Less than three months later, this store sustained a serious fire loss, which proved to be the undoing of the business. A bankruptcy petition was filed on behalf of the company in February 1976, the company was adjudicated a bankrupt on March 5, 1976, and a trustee was appointed on March 31.

Vantage was a produce wholesaler formed in February 1976 by Frank Petrocelli, its president, purchasing agent, and sole stockholder. Petrocelli hired Spinale to work as the company's sales manager, and Spinale brought in Guiliano to work as a salesman. Like Archie's Acres, Vantage consistently bought more produce than it was able to sell. A bankruptcy petition filed on behalf of the company in August 1976 resulted in an adjudication of bankruptcy and the appointment of a trustee two months later.

The Government's theory was that the defendants had used Archie's Acres, Vantage, and four other corporations owned or operated by Spinale to generate cash for themselves, thereby causing the collapse of Archie's Acres and Vantage. Count 1 of the indictment, the RICO count, charged that the six corporations constituted an "enterprise" within the meaning of the RICO Act and that the defendants had participated in the conduct of the affairs of the enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity that included at least two acts of concealing the property of a bankrupt. Count 3 charged that the defendants had concealed from the bankruptcy trustee of Archie's Acres a truck and a refrigeration unit. Count 4 charged that they had concealed from Vantage's bankruptcy trustee approximately $60,000 of cash receipts. ²

1. Count 4. To convict Guiliano on this count of bankruptcy fraud, the jury was required to find beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) that Vantage had been adjudicated a bankrupt; (2) that Vantage owned the cash receipts; (3) that the defendant had concealed or aided and abetted the concealment of the cash receipts from the bankruptcy trustee; and (4) that he had done so knowing of the appointment of the trustee and with intent to defraud the company's creditors. 18 U.S.C. § 152. See, e.g., United States v. Micciche, 525 F.2d 544 (8th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 966, 96 S.Ct. 1460, 47 L.Ed.2d 732 (1976); United States v. Weinbren, 121 F.2d 826 (2d Cir. 1941); United States v. Yasser, 114 F.2d 558 (3d Cir. 1940).

The evidence, construed most favorably to the Government, established that in the summer of 1976, Guiliano, while still employed as a Vantage salesman, rented two retail stores for the purpose of selling produce that would be diverted from Vantage. The managers of the two stores, who were hired by Guiliano, ordered the Vantage produce from Guiliano or Spinale. Guiliano collected the cash from the stores, but did not turn it over to Vantage. Petrocelli never authorized Guiliano to open the two stores and he had no knowledge of Guiliano's activities. The cash receipts that were apparently embezzled by Guiliano were never disclosed to the bankruptcy trustee.

This evidence would have sufficed to convict Guiliano of the state offense of embezzling assets belonging to Vantage, but it was insufficient to convict him of the federal offense of knowingly and fraudulently concealing the cash receipts from the bankruptcy trustee. There was no direct evidence that Guiliano knew of the adjudication of bankruptcy or of the appointment of the trustee. Nor was there any evidence from which his knowledge of either fact could reasonably be inferred. Guiliano was neither an owner nor an officer of the bankrupt, and his duties as a salesman did not require him to be familiar with its financial condition. Petrocelli, the sole owner, testified that even he was unaware of the company's condition until the bankruptcy petition was filed. It is possible to speculate that when the business closed, Guiliano must have realized that an adjudication of bankruptcy would follow, but the record contains no evidence as to when he left Vantage or the circumstances of his leaving. Indeed, the Government offered no evidence of the defendant's activities after August 1976, nearly two months before the adjudication of bankruptcy and the appointment of the trustee. In the absence of such evidence, a finding that the defendant somehow learned of the appointment of the trustee could only be arrived at through conjecture. See United States v. Micciche, supra, 525 F.2d at 546-47.

Our conclusion that the conviction on Count 4 must be reversed is reenforced by the conspicuous absence from the Government's brief of any mention of evidence bearing on the issue of Guiliano's knowledge of the appointment of the Vantage trustee. Responding to Guiliano's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence on the element of knowledge, the Government has referred us to some facts bearing on Guiliano's...