Thursday, January 03, 2013

U.S. v. Xu (9th Cir. - Jan. 3, 2013)

Defendants are four Chinese nationals who embezzle a huge -- and I mean, huge -- amount of money from the Bank of China.  They get caught and flee to the United States using fake immigration documents, and are prosecuted in federal court.  They're unhappy about their conviction in the United States for extraterritorial conduct they performed in China, as well as their sentences -- a decade to twenty five years in prison for the various participants, plus a restitution order to repay $482 million.

The Ninth Circuit reverses the restituion order but affirms everything else.

Judge Goodwin's opinion seems right to me.  I'll also add that despite the defendant's unhappiness with the result in the United States, they should be darn happy that the U.S. doesn't have an extradition treaty with China.  Because I'm quite certain of the sentence they would have received there.

One day in prison, and a restitution order for a single bullet.