Summary
This Second Circuit per curiam opinion affirms the conviction of Salifou Conde for wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy. The central issue on appeal is whether an electronically generated payment record from a telecommunications provider was properly admitted as a self-authenticating business record under Federal Rules of Evidence 803(6) and 902(11). The court held that the record qualified as a business record despite being compiled in response to a subpoena, finding no error or abuse of discretion in its admission.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Optimum Payment Record was properly admitted as a self‑authenticating business record under Fed. R. Evid. 803(6) and 902(11).
- Whether the admission of that record violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights.
Holdings
- The district court did not err; the Optimum Payment Record is admissible as a business record and self‑authenticating.
- No; because the record is a business record, its admission does not violate the Confrontation Clause.
Key quotations
“The principal precondition to admission of documents as business records pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 803(6) is that the records have sufficient indicia of trustworthiness to be considered reliable.” (at 22)
“Because the Optimum Payment Record is a business record, its admission could not have violated his Sixth Amendment right of confrontation.” (at 24)
Factual background
Conde, a former courier for Deluxe Delivery Systems, participated in a scheme that diverted rent assistance checks from New York City's Human Resources Administration into bank accounts he controlled. The government introduced, among other evidence, an Optimum (Altice USA) payment record showing three 2018 credit‑card payments for internet and cable service billed to an account in Conde's name.
Procedural history
The district court admitted the Optimum Payment Record as a business record under Fed. R. Evid. 803(6) and 902(11). The jury convicted Conde of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy. Conde appealed the admission of the record and alleged a Sixth Amendment violation.