Nature of the Case
To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.
Facts
D became Director of Network Services at NYNEX Mobile Communications Co. NYNEX provided mobile telephone services and was then involved in a race with a competitor to build 'cell sites,' small structures containing switching gear used to relay signals from cellular phones within specific geographic areas. Great Northeastern was a small, newly formed contracting firm that operated out of the house of its half-owner, Robert Brennan. Great Northeastern had originally been hired by NYNEX to provide consulting services but later became the prime contractor for the construction of certain cell sites. NYNEX's business eventually accounted for roughly ninety percent of Great Northeastern's business. Great Northeastern was thus heavily dependent upon the favor of NYNEX. D had substantial, although not absolute, control over the selection, supervision, and payment of contractors hired to build cell sites. D needed formal approval of other NYNEX executives, but he could allow or disallow claims for extra work, approve or disapprove invoices and materially aid Great Northeastern in obtaining cell site construction contracts. NYNEX had explicit written policies forbidding its employees from soliciting or receiving benefits from persons doing business with NYNEX. In May 1984, he learned that a former employee of Great Northeastern had improperly billed $3,200 in telephone calls to a NYNEX credit card. D showed these bills to Brennan and warned that 'it wouldn't look good' for Great Northeastern if upper management found out. Brennan offered to pay the bills, but D refused the offer, saying that he would 'take care of them' himself. D then approached Brennan for help in building a sun deck for D's home in New Jersey. After being told by D to 'keep in mind the phone bill,' Brennan agreed to build the sun deck at a cut-rate price. Based upon plans D obtained from an architect (also a NYNEX subcontractor) who employed D's wife, Brennan built, not a sun deck, but an entire 'Florida room' addition costing in excess of $20,000. To make it appear that he had actually paid for the addition, D asked Brennan to take a $15,000 check and then return him the same amount in cash. Brennan declined to participate in this cover-up but nevertheless did not ask for any payment for constructing the Florida room. D also induced Brennan to arrange and pay for additional work on D's house, including repairs to a sump pump, refacing of a fireplace, construction of a closet in the garage, addition of a porch on the rear of the house, and construction of a deck on the Florida room. Great Northeastern became almost totally dependent upon its construction contracts with NYNEX for its commercial survival. By June, Great Northeastern's work from NYNEX was increased to $500,000, and in November 1984, Great Northeastern received another $500,000 contract for work in New York. Brennan testified that he feared that if he refused to accede to D's demands, D would use his power to drive Great Northeastern out of business by withholding payments on completed work and by denying Great Northeastern any new construction work for NYNEX. D shifted his demands from services to cash. D even drew up a written schedule of payments, totaling $100,000. He explained to Brennan that $5 million of construction contracts, a 'once-in-a-lifetime situation,' were coming up and that he, D, wanted his 'share.' Brennan made cash payments totaling $85,000 between January and April 1985. The jury convicted D on six counts of violation of the Hobbs Act, and the trial court granted D's motion for acquittal notwithstanding the verdict. P appealed that acquittal. D was also convicted under the Travel Act for wire fraud,
Support@ bsmsphd.com
Casebriefs Co