Wednesday, November 16th, 2022

Supreme Court to Clarify the Scope of Aggravated Identity Theft

In case you missed it, the Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in Dubin v. United States, No. 22-10, which presents the question whether a person commits aggravated identity theft any time he or she mentions or otherwise recites someone else’s name while committing a predicate offense.

David Dubin was convicted of Medicaid fraud. As the case arrives at the Supreme Court, he is challenging a separate conviction under a federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1)) that makes it a crime to use another person’s “means of identification” during and in relation to certain other crimes, including healthcare fraud. Federal prosecutors contend that Dubin’s use of his patient’s name on a false Medicaid claim violated the statute, adding an extra two years to his one-year sentence for fraud.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld Dubin’s conviction and sentence, and on rehearing a divided full court affirmed that decision.

On November 10, 2022, the Justices agreed to take up the case, which will likely be argued sometime early next year.

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