In an appeal from a fraud conviction and 22-year sentence, Lee Elbaz argued that the wire fraud statute did not apply to her extraterritorial conduct, which involved running a multimillion-dollar fraudulent “investment” scheme from Israel.
The Third Circuit held that, while the wire fraud statute does not apply extraterritorially, “the focus of the statute is on misuse of American wires,” and Elbaz’s conduct certainly involved using American wires to further her fraudulent scheme. However, the Court concluded that the district court had erred in imposing a broad restitution order that “went beyond victims of domestic wire fraud.”
Appeal from the District of Maryland
Opinion by Richardson, joined by Rushing and Traxler
Click here to read the opinion.