Whether employment and its employee benefits constitute 'money or property' under the federal wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and whether concealment of fraudulent credentials involves a rejected 'right to control' theory

I. Do employment and its employee benefits constitute the “money or property” of the employer for the purpose of the federal wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1343? There exists a circuit split on this question. The Eight Circuit has answered this question “yes”. United States v. Granberry, 908 F, 2d 278 (8 Cir. 1990). The First and District of Columbia Circuits have answered this question “no”. Berroa v. United States, 856 F. 3d 141 (1* Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Davila v. United States, 583 U.S. 1003 (2017); United States v. Barrow, 109 F. 4% 321 (D.C. Cir. 2024); and United States uv. Guertin, 67 F. 4 445 (D.C. Cir. 2023). The Eleventh Circuit in Auguste’s case has answered this question “yes”. United States v. Auguste, 2025 WL 1249649, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 10426 (11. Cir. 2025) (unpublished). However, the Eleventh Circuit had one year previously answered this question “no”. United States v. Bickers, 2024 WL 3813993, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 20503 (11™ Cir. 2024) (unpublished). Il. Did the indictment underlying Eleventh Circuit Case No. 24-10741 and the superseding information underlying Eleventh Circuit Case No. 24-10757 proceed on the “right to control” theory of “money or property” under the federal wire fraud statute, which theory was rejected in Ciminelli uv. United States, 598 U.S. 306 (2023), and Kousisis v. United States, __ U.S. ___, 145 S. Ct. 13882 (2025)? The indictment underlying Eleventh Circuit Case No. 24-10741 and the superseding information underlying Eleventh Circuit Case No. 24-10757 alleged that Auguste had concealed from potential employers the “mere information’ that the applicants’ nursing school transcripts and diplomas were fraudulent. Under this Court’s decisions in Ciminelli and Kousisis, supra, such concealment bore the hallmark of the rejected “right to control” theory of “money or property” under the federal wire fraud statute. The upshot: Auguste is serving a 42-month prison sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, Fort Worth Texas, for what may be non-existent violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1343.