Nothing But Net. US v. Kranvovich

No. 03-10226 (3-23-05). This is an appeal from a conviction for theft from a federally funded program. The defendant (a sheriff) used the cash for his own purposes. His main challenges were to the nexus between the federal program and the cash taken, but this challenges was foreclosed by the Supremes in Sabri v. US, 541 US 600 (2004) which held that no nexus was needed. Defendant's second argument was that the grant of $12,000 was approved, but the cash wasn't all disbursed (there is a federal trigger of at least $10,000 and only approximately $1300 was disbursed). The 9th found this distinction unavailing because whether the funds were disbursed yet, or sitting in a bank available, the grant still had been approved. Moreover, such jurisdictional grants are read broadly.