United States v. Smith, No. 10-6039 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe defendant was convicted of embezzlement from his not-for-profit employer's employee benefit plan and making false statements to a government agent. The Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded for acquittal on embezzlement and conversion counts. The evidence showed that there was insufficient money in the fund, based on discretionary contributions approved as part of a non-binding budget; a reasonable jury could not conclude that the approved contributions were an "asset" of the plan. The defendant's actions in holding the contribution check because of cash-flow problems may have defeated or concealed the plan's right to the contributions, but did not amount to embezzlement, theft, abstraction, or conversion. The defendant also arranged for his employer to contract with a "shell" company he owned for administrative services; any false statements made with respect to that scheme were made in Minnesota and Oklahoma was not the proper venue for prosecution.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.