The Supreme Courtroom Friday unanimously sided with a Chicago political scion in his felony enchantment, agreeing an anti-corruption legislation barring mendacity to regulators solely covers false statements, not deceptive ones.
Patrick Daley Thompson, a member of Chicago’s most well-known political dynasty, was convicted in 2022 of mendacity to regulators concerning the quantity he borrowed from a now-defunct financial institution and already served a 4-month sentence.
In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the justices despatched the case again to a decrease court docket for one more take a look at Thompson’s expenses, since he argues his statements had been merely deceptive.
“In casual conversation, people use many overlapping words to describe shady statements: false, misleading, dishonest, deceptive, literally true, and more. Only one of those words appears in the statute,” Roberts wrote.
“Section 1014 does not criminalize statements that are misleading but true. Under the statute, it is not enough that a statement is misleading. It must be ‘false,’” he continued.
The anti-corruption legislation Thompson was convicted of violating bars making false statements to affect sure authorities companies and monetary establishments. He additionally was convicted on tax expenses that stay in place and weren’t at situation earlier than the excessive court docket.
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