19-1698 United States v. Sindzingre United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit AUGUST TERM 2020 No. 19-1698 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. MURIEL BESCOND, Defendant-Appellant, DANIELLE SINDZINGRE, Defendant. ARGUED: SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 DECIDED: AUGUST 5, 2021 Before: LIVINGSTON, Chief Judge, WALKER, JACOBS, Circuit Judges. Muriel Bescond, a citizen and resident of France, is charged with violating the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”). She appeals from the memorandum and order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Seybert, J.), which applied the fugitive disentitlement doctrine and denied her motions to dismiss the indictment on grounds of (inter alia) extraterritoriality and due process. On appeal, Bescond argues that the collateral order doctrine confers appellate jurisdiction to review the application of the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, and that there is pendent appellate jurisdiction to review the merits of her challenges based on extraterritoriality and due process. As to merits, she argues that the district court misapplied the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, that the indictment impermissibly charges her with extraterritorial violations of the CEA, and that her prosecution is inconsistent with due process. We conclude that we have jurisdiction to review the disentitlement ruling, but none to review the merits of extraterritoriality or due process. We conclude that Bescond is not a fugitive and, even if she were a fugitive, the district court abused its discretion in disentitling her. Accordingly, we REVERSE the order disentitling Bescond and REMAND for further proceedings to consider or reconsider the merits of her motions to dismiss, and we DISMISS this appeal insofar as it seeks review of the (alternative) rulings on extraterritoriality and due process. Chief Judge Livingston concurs in part and dissents in part in a separate opinion. 2 __________________ JEREMY R. SANDERS, Appellate Counsel (David C. James, Alixandra Smith, Andrey Spektor, Assistant United States Attorneys, for JACQUELYN M. KASULIS, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Carol L. Sipperly, Senior Litigation Counsel; Timothy A. Duree, Trial Attorney; Brian A. Benczkowski, Assistant Attorney General; John P. Cronan, Deputy Assistant Attorney General; on the brief), Washington, DC and Brooklyn, NY, for Appellee United States of America. LAURENCE S. SHTASEL, Blank Rome LLP, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellant Muriel Bescond. DENNIS JACOBS, Circuit Judge: Muriel Bescond, a French banker, is charged with transmitting false, misleading, and knowingly inaccurate commodities reports, and with conspiracy to do the same, in violation of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”). A citizen and resident of France, she allegedly participated in the LIBOR benchmark interest rate calculation process from her office in Paris. It is alleged that, by causing an artificial reduction in LIBOR rates, she affected the pricing of futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Bescond remains in France today and has not submitted to the district court’s jurisdiction. 3 Through counsel, Bescond moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that (1) it impermissibly charged her with extraterritorial violations of the CEA, (2) the prosecution violated her Fifth Amendment due process …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals