Kernrechtsfrage
Whether the appellate court wrongly denied arglist and acquitted the defendant of part of the repeated commercial fraud charges.
Extrahierter Entscheid
The acquittals on numerous fraud counts were inconsistent with federal law; the victims' conduct did not amount to excluding arglist, and the case had to be remitted for a new decision on that point.
Extrahierte Begründung
The defendant used a systematic and sophisticated pattern of deception, often under false or third-party identities, and exploited ordinary business practices. Failure to request credit checks, advance payment, or to refrain from further deliveries after overdue invoices did not amount to the kind of gross carelessness that would exclude arglist.