United States v. Richard Devincent

COFFIN, Chief Judge.

Appellant was convicted of making an extortionate extension of credit and of collection of an extension of credit by extortionate means in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 892 and 894. He assigns numerous errors on appeal, largely relating to the ad mission of evidence and instructions to the jury.

I

The testimony at trial may be summarized as follows: The government’s chief witness, Allan Klein, testified that he was the owner of a “bust-out” operation-that is, it would order merchandise from suppliers using fraudulent credit references and without any intention of paying for the…