Defendant-Appellant Justin Foust appeals from his conviction on six counts of wire fraud, and one count each of aggravated identity theft and money laundering. He was sentenced to 121 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised release.
Briefly, Mr. Foust’s company, Platinum Express, LLC, submitted false and
fraudulent invoices to its customer, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (“Chesapeake”). Chesapeake identified more than $4.5 million that it had paid out on these invoices. Mr. Foust did not deny that the invoices were improper and that Platinum Express had not performed the work. But he denied that he had forged the signatures and employee identification numbers of Chesapeake employees.
A handwriting expert testified otherwise regarding invoices associated with Chesapeake employee Bobby Gene Putman. The jury convicted Mr. Foust on the wire-fraud and aggravated identity-theft counts associated with these invoices.
On appeal, Mr. Foust argues that the district court abused its discretion by
allowing the handwriting expert to testify at trial. He contends that (1) the
government did not adequately show that the expert’s methodology was reliable and (2) the handwriting expert used unreliable data in reaching his opinion. This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.
Full Opinion here: United States v. Foust, No. 19-6161 (10th Cir. 2021), https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca10/19-6161/19-6161-2021-03-02.pdf?ts=1614704455
Anton Vialtsin, Esq.
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