Supreme Court Puts New Limits on Fraud Prosecutions
High court throws out convictions of two former aides to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court placed new limits on white-collar fraud prosecutions, handing down a pair of decisions that criticized legal theories frequently used by the Justice Department.
In both rulings on Thursday, the court threw out convictions emerging from former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s crackdown on what he called a “show-me-the-money culture in Albany” during the tenure of former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In the first case, Percoco v. United States, the court ruled in favor of former Cuomo top adviser Joseph Percoco, who challenged his 2018 conviction on fraud and bribery charges.
In that unanimous decision, the court curtailed the Justice Department’s use of the “honest-services fraud statute,” limiting how it can be used against private citizens.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-puts-new-limits-on-fraud-prosecutions-1fd69808
