Kaufman v. United States

Appellant was charged in two indictments jointly with Maurice Niditch, Samuel Lewis and others, including certain residents of Canada, with using the mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud and with conspiracy to commit the same offenses. Indictment No. 26262 charged the use of the mails to sell and deliver stock of the Devon Gold Mines, Ltd., a Canadian corporation (hereinafter called Devon), without registration, in violation of sections 5 (a) (1) and (2), as amended of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C.A. § 77e (a) (1, 2), and for conspiring to violate these sections. Indictment No. 26263 charged violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 [sic], section 17 (a) (1) and (2), as amended, 15 U.S.C.A. § 77q (a) (1, 2), and the Mail Fraud Statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 388, and conspiring to violate these statutes. Counts 2 and 6 of indictment No. 26262 and count 5 of indictment No. 26263 were withdrawn from the consideration of the jury. The Canadian defendants not being within the reach of process, as the offenses charged are not extraditable, the case proceeded against Niditch, Lewis, and the appellant. Lewis pleaded guilty to the third count of indictment No. 26262 and the fourth count of indictment No. 26263. The jury found appellant and Niditch guilty on the eleven counts of both indictments submitted to it. The District Court sentenced appellant and Niditch on substantive counts 1 and 3 of the second indictment only. Niditch was sentenced to imprisonment for five years on each count, to run consecutively, and to pay a fine of $2,500 on each count. Appellant was sentenced to imprisonment for three and a half years on each count, to run consecutively, and to pay a fine of $500 on each count.