United States v. Gjon N. Nivica, United States of America v. Mark L. Pedley, A/K/A Jack Williams, Mark Wellington

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

“Money Makes the World Go Around” was the background music to which this farflung flim-flam was set. Centered around an offshore bank, Merchant Bank & Trust Co. (MBT), the scheme circled the globe, from Boston to the Bahamas and from Mexico to the Mariana Islands. The finale was a nineteen-count indictment against six defendants, including appellants Gjon Nivica and Mark Pedley Wellington. Following their conviction on numerous counts,1 Nivica and Wellington appeal. We believe that the show, though ingeniously contrived, is destined to close without an encore.

I. THE PLOT

We…