Page:Ciminelli v. United States.pdf/7

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CIMINELLI v. UNITED STATES

Opinion of the Court

its assets if Fort Schuyler was “deprived of potentially valuable economic information that it would consider valuable in deciding how to use its assets.” Ibid. The District Court further defined “economically valuable information” as “information that affects the victim’s assessment of the benefits or burdens of a transaction, or relates to the quality of goods or services received or the economic risks of the transaction.” Ibid. The jury found Ciminelli guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and the District Court sentenced him to 28 months’ imprisonment followed by 2 years’ supervised release.

On appeal, Ciminelli challenged the right-to-control theory, arguing that the right to control one’s assets is not “property” for purposes of the wire fraud statute. Defending the wire fraud convictions, the Government relied solely on the right-to-control theory. The Second Circuit affirmed the convictions based on its longstanding right-to-control precedents, holding that, by “rigging the RFPs to favor their companies, defendants deprived Fort Schuyler of potentially valuable economic information.” 13 F. 4th, at 171 (internal quotation marks omitted).

We granted certiorari to determine whether the Second Circuit’s right-to-control theory of wire fraud is a valid basis for liability under 18 U. S. C. §1343. 597 U. S. ___ (2022). And, we now hold that it is not.

II
A

The wire fraud statute criminalizes “scheme[s] or artifice[s] to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.” §1343. Although the statute is phrased in the disjunctive, we have consistently understood the “money or property” requirement to limit the “scheme or artifice to defraud” element because the “common understanding” of the words “to defraud” when the statute was enacted referred