DOJ Concedes Error in Title 18 Insider Trading Convictions After Supreme Court’s ‘Bridgegate’ Decision

As discussed in our prior blog post, earlier this year the Supreme Court vacated and remanded the Second Circuit’s decision in a high-profile insider trading case, United States v. Blaszczak, for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s “Bridgegate” decision in Kelly v. United States.

 In Blaszczak, the Second Circuit had previously found that a government agency’s confidential pre-decisional information constituted “property” under Title 18, and that therefore the Blaszczak defendants had committed fraud under the applicable statutes when they obtained the information and traded on it.  However, following that decision, the Supreme Court held in Kelly that a government regulatory interest did not constitute “property” for the purpose of Title 18 fraud statutes.  The Blaszczak defendants filed a petition for certiorari, contending that the Second Circuit’s reading of Title 18 could not be reconciled with the Supreme Court’s holding.  After the Blaszczak defendants filed their petition, the government consented to a remand to the Second Circuit.

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