Jurisdiction (Criminal)

• Author: International Law Group

Between 1995 and 1998, the United Nations peacekeeping mission stationed Charles Kim, a U.S. citizen, in Zagreb, Croatia, as the Chief of Travel and Traffic in Bosnia-Herzegovina (UNMIBH). While there, Kim took part in a scheme to defraud the UNMIBH by signing off on inflated travel invoices for peacekeepers submitted by employees of a Croatian travel agency and Air France. Essentially, Kim waived the baggage discounts offered for UN peacekeepers which would have allowed them to carry up to 120 kilograms without charge. This resulted in more than $500,000 in improper baggage charges going to Kim and his co-conspirators. UNMIBH was paying its travel vendors by wire transfer from Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City.

The Wire Fraud statute [18 U.S.C.A. Section 1343 (2000)] bars the use of wire transmissions to further a fraudulent scheme. In 1956, Congress amended the statute to make the statute apply to fraud using foreign, as well as interstate, wires. Congress was responding to the prosecution of an individual who had made a fraudulent telephone call from Mexico to the U.S. but who had successfully argued that Section 1343 did not apply to foreign communications.

Kim challenged his present conviction for wire fraud, arguing that jurisdiction and venue in the Southern District of New York was improper because none of the fraudulent or conspiratorial acts took place in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, however, affirms.

At the outset, the Court notes that "although there is no general bar against the extraterritorial application of our criminal laws to American citizens, the Supreme Court has long recognized a presumption against such applications. [Cit.] The presumption against extraterritorial applications is overcome, however, when it is clear that Congress intends the statute to cover conduct that occurs outside the United States. [Cit.] We...