United States v. Bhatia

McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:

The issue we consider is whether there was privity between the government and a third party in a civil fraud action sufficient to bar a subsequent criminal prosecution of Lai Bhatia for wire fraud and money laundering. Bhatia argues that because the government took the “laboring oar” in the civil action, there was sufficient privity for application of res judicata and collateral estoppel. The facts do not support such a claim. Instead, Bhatia’s argument is a variation on the “virtual representation” theory recently rejected by the Supreme Court in Taylor v. Sturgell, —…