People v. Badji

Summary

The New York Court of Appeals considers whether a credit card account number qualifies as a “credit card” under Penal Law § 155.00 (7) and General Business Law §§ 511 and 511-a. The Court holds that the statutory definition includes an intangible credit card account number and affirms Frederic Badji’s fourth-degree grand larceny conviction. A partial dissent concludes that the statute requires proof that the defendant possessed the tangible card and that the rule of lenity favors reversal.

Holdings

1. The definition of credit card in General Business Law § 511 (1), supplemented by General Business Law § 511-a, includes a number assigned to a credit card for purposes of Penal Law § 155.00 (7).
2. The evidence was legally sufficient to support defendant's fourth-degree grand-larceny conviction based on theft of an intangible credit card account number, even though there was no evidence that defendant possessed the physical card.
3. The rule of lenity does not apply because the statutory language is not grievously ambiguous and the legislative intent is sufficiently clear.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the definition of credit card applicable to fourth-degree grand larceny includes a credit card account number, so that the prosecution need not prove physical possession of the tangible card.
2. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support defendant's conviction for fourth-degree grand larceny based on theft of the corporate credit card account number.
3. Whether defendant's remaining evidentiary challenges required reversal.

Disposition

affirmed