5th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) 2.13

CLAIMS

18 U.S.C. § 286

Title 18, United States Code, Section 286, makes it a crime for anyone to enter into any

agreement, combination, or conspiracy to defraud the United States or any department or agency

thereof by obtaining [aiding to obtain] the payment [allowance] of any f alse, fictitious, or

fraudulent claim.

The defendant is charged with conspiring to _______________ (describe the object of the

conspiracy as alleged in the indictment or narrowed to evidence at trial).

A “conspiracy” is an agreement between two or more persons to join together to

accomplish some unlawful purpose. It is a kind of “partnership in crime” in which each member

becomes the agent of every other member.

For you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, you must be convinced that the

government has proved each of the following beyond a reasonable doubt:

First: That the defendant and at least one other person made an agreement to commit the

crime of ______________ (describe), as charged in the indictment;

Second: That the defendant knew the unlawful purpose of the agreement and joined in it

with the intent to further the unlawful purpose; and

Third: The agreement was to defraud the United States, or any department or agency

thereof, by obtaining or aiding to obtain the payment or allowance of any claim based on a false,

fictitious, or fraudulent [material] representation.

[A representation is “material” if it has a natural tendency to influence, or is capable of

influencing, the decision of the person or entity to which it is addressed.]

One may become a member of a conspiracy without knowing all the details of the unlawful

scheme or the identities of all the other alleged conspirators. If a defendant understands the

unlawful nature of a plan or scheme and knowingly and intentionally joins in that plan or scheme

on one occasion, that is sufficient to convict him [her] for conspiracy even though the defendant

had not participated before and even though the defendant played only a minor part.

The government need not prove that the alleged conspirators entered into any formal

agreement, nor that they directly stated between themselves all the details of the scheme. Similarly,

the government need not prove that all of the details of the scheme alleged in the indictment were

actually agreed upon or carried out. Nor must it prove that all the persons alleged to have been

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members of the conspiracy were such, or that the alleged conspirators actually succeeded in

accomplishing their unlawful objectives.

Mere presence at the scene of an event, even with knowledge that a crime is being

committed, or the mere fact that certain persons may have assembled together and discussed

common aims and interest, does not necessarily establish proof of the existence of a conspiracy.

Also, a person who has no knowledge of a conspiracy, but who happens to act in a way that

advances some purpose of a conspiracy, does not thereby become a conspirator.