In U.S. v. Ghavami, Southern District of New York Judge Kimba M. Wood denied a motion to dismiss part of an indictment against three former UBS AG executives over alleged fraud schemes and bid-rigging related to contracts in the municipal bond market. In their motion to dismiss, defendants argued that a five-year statute of limitations applied to the wire fraud and bid-rigging charges because the government’s reliance on a series of settlement and non-prosecution agreements between financial institutions and state authorities is insufficient to show a direct relationship between the charged conduct’s effects on the financial institutions. The court disagreed, holding that the statute of limitations for this case is 10 years because the government’s proffered evidence, if proven at trial, is sufficient to show that the alleged offenses “affected” a financial institution.
Defendants also argued that the indictment violates the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause because three of the counts are based on the same conduct, but are presented as separate conspiracies, instead of one count of conspiracy. The court rejected that argument as premature and held that if the jury will convict defendants on what the court will ultimately determine to be multiplicitous counts, the court will enter judgment on only one of the multiplicitous convictions.
The court also denied defendants’ motion for a bill of particulars, holding that the government provided defendants with sufficient information to advise them of the nature of the charges against them, to enable them to prepare a defense, and to avoid unfair surprise at trial.
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