Shaw v United States 2017 Briefing.docx - Shaw V. United...

Shaw V. United States
2017, 137 S. Ct. 462
Facts: Shaw in this case was convicted of transferring funds to his own personal banking
account from defendant Hsu’s bank account. Shaw argues that he does not intend to cause
harm to the financial institution itself, rather the account holder. Shaw further argues that he
wasn’t aware that the bank was involved in the account of Hsu and that the allegations shouldn’t
be held against him, but once again the court accused Shaw of communicating false statements
to the bank which emphasized the “defrauding scheme” against the bank.
Shaw was convicted for his crimes, the Court decided that a scheme to defraud customers also
deprives the bank of money, which they use to give out loans to other customers. This means
the bank holds a "property right" on these assets because of the agreement with their
customers. Shaw therefore would be convicted under the federal statute for schemes to defraud
bank customers
Issue: Is Shaw guilty of Bank defrauding even though he wasn’t intentionally targeting the bank
institution?