U.S. Supreme Court Success in Binday v. United States
Since 2015, soon after Michael Binday’s conviction was affirmed on appeal by the Second Circuit, we began what has become an eight-year effort to overturn an overbroad and constitutionally vague construction of the federal fraud statutes that labelled a complaining witness’ desire for information (called its “right to control its property”) as property itself.
We filed an en banc petition for review in the Second Circuit, sought certiorari in the Supreme Court, filed an amicus brief in Kelly v. United States (the Bridgegate case), filed a habeas petition for Mr. Binday after the Supreme Court reversed the convictions in Kelly, and then sought certiorari from the Second Circuit’s improper adherence to its right to control theory in denying Mr. Binday’s petition.
While Mr. Binday’s cert petition was pending, the Supreme Court accepted certiorari in Ciminelli v. United States and held Mr. Binday’s petition. Last week, in a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court struck down the Second Circuit’s “right to control” definition of property, and then a few days later granted Mr. Binday’s petition, vacated the judgment below, and remanded for further proceedings.
We are confident that the Second Circuit will reverse Mr. Binday’s conviction.