United States v. Chandler
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
388 F.3d 796 (2004)
The federal government (plaintiff) prosecuted George Chandler and 42 others (defendants) for a single conspiracy to defraud McDonald's through a rigged promotional game, though the scheme's architect, Jerome Jacobson, was charged separately. Jacobson, the game's security director, stole winning tokens and passed them to Chandler and nine other 'recruits,' who distributed them to 33 more 'winners'; each winner split the prize with his recruit, who kicked back a share to Jacobson. None of the recruits or winners knew about each other, knew that Jacobson had stolen the tokens, or knew they were part of a larger scheme. The jury convicted all 43 defendants of a single conspiracy, and they appealed.
Whether a conviction for a single conspiracy can stand when each defendant dealt only with a common central figure and none knew of the other participants or the overall scheme.