United States v. Blechman

657 F.3d 1052 (10th Cir. 2011)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D and a codefendant, Yass were tried together in on charges of mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Yass operated a business that he used to temporarily halt home foreclosures by 'attaching' foreclosure properties to fraudulent bankruptcy cases in order to take advantage of the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay provision. D accessed fraudulent bankruptcies using both Yass's PACER account and his own PACER account. Postal money orders that D filled out and mailed to bankruptcy courts to pay filing fees on behalf of fictitious debtors, and Yass's trial testimony explaining D's role in the scheme was admitted against D. D was convicted and appealed. D argued that the records admitted contained double hearsay and that the district court erroneously admitted them under the business records exception to the hearsay rule (Fed. R. Evid. 803(6)). The court admitted an America Online record that connected him to the e-mail address 'rablechman@aol.com' and three PACER records revealing that he accessed fraudulent bankruptcy cases in Tennessee that were similar to the Kansas bankruptcies identified in the indictment.