NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ___________ No. 19-3694 __________ CHRISTOPHER RAD, Appellant v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ____________________________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (D.C. Civil Action No. 3-15-cv-07740) District Judge: Honorable Anne E. Thompson ____________________________________ Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) February 17, 2021 Before: GREENAWAY, Jr., KRAUSE, and BIBAS, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: February 19, 2021) ___________ OPINION* ___________ PER CURIAM Christopher Rad appeals from the District Court’s order denying his motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. We will affirm. * This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not I. In 2011, Rad was indicted on federal charges relating to his role in the use of spam emails as part of a “pump and dump” stock price manipulation scheme. Rad was the middleman between the masterminds of the scheme and the personnel who executed it through email spamming. The superseding indictment charged Rad with nine counts. Count One charged him with conspiracy to commit: (1) securities fraud in violation of 15 U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78ff; (2) “false header spamming” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1037(a)(3); and (3) “false registration spamming” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1037(a)(4). Counts Two through Four were substantive charges of false registration spamming. Count Five was a charge of conspiring to commit “unauthorized access spamming” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1037(a)(1), and Counts Six through Nine were substantive charges of unauthorized access spamming. The evidence against Rad at trial included the testimony of James Bragg, who testified in support of the spamming aspect of Count One and the substantive false- registration counts at Counts Two through Four. Bragg testified generally that Rad hired him to send the spam emails at issue, that Bragg did so by sending mass emails with false header information and from falsely registered accounts, and that Rad knew as much. Bragg’s testimony was corroborated in part by numerous transcripts of Skype chats constitute binding precedent. 2 between Rad and Bragg, in which they discussed the email campaigns, as well as test emails that Bragg sent to Rad containing false header information. On the basis of this and other evidence, a jury found Rad guilty of Counts One as to spamming and of Counts Five through Nine. The jury found Rad not guilty of Counts Two through Four. The District Court sentenced Rad to 71 months in prison. We affirmed. See United States v. Rad, 559 F. App’x 148 (3d Cir. 2014). Rad later challenged his convictions by filing a § 2255 motion. In that motion, Rad raised several claims regarding the witness Bragg as well as other claims that are not presently relevant. Bragg’s spamming activities had subjected him to federal criminal charges of his own. At the time of Rad’s trial, Bragg (1) had pleaded guilty and been sentenced in the Eastern District of Michigan, and (2) had pleaded guilty and ...
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