JURIST - Paper Chase: Ninth Circuit vacates corruption sentence of former Ukraine PM

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed [decision, PDF] six of fourteen counts against former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko [BBC backgrounder] Friday, vacating his nine year sentence [JURIST report] and remanding on the remaining eight counts for resentencing. The court set aside five counts of wire fraud after finding that the prosecution had failed to establish that Lazarenko's alleged wire transfers were conducted in furtherance of a fraudulent scheme. The court also reversed a single count conviction for interstate transportation of stolen property, after finding that the prosecution failed to establish that money of questionable origin was directly traceable to stolen, converted, taken by fraud, or derived from such property. The San Francisco Chronicle has more.

Lazarenko, who sought political asylum in the United States during the 1999 Ukrainian presidential elections, is accused of defrauding and laundering at least $114 million from Ukrainian businesses and government projects between 1996 and 1997.

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