The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] unanimously Monday in Shaw v. United States [SCOTUSblog materials] that a defendant’s argument that he should not be convicted of bank fraud because because he only intended to cheat a bank depositor is unpersuasive. Lawrence Shaw illegally drained another person’s bank account but claimed on appeal that because he did not intend to defraud the bank itself, the federal bank fraud statute [text] does not apply. In an opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court rejected Shaw’s argument. The court vacated the judgment [opinion, PDF] of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and remanded for further proceedings.

The court heard arguments [JURIST report] in this case in October. Certiorari was granted [JURIST report] in April. The court will be in recess until its next conference on January 6.