Judge Debra Ann Livingston
Dupree was president of GDC Acquisitions. A credit agreement negotiated in 2008 with Amalgamated Bank—providing GDC’s subsidiaries with $21 million in credit—required that GDC’s subsidiaries deposit revenues in accounts maintained at Amalgamated. Dupree was arrested in July 2010 for bank fraud in connection with the 2008 credit agreement. Dupree allegedly converted $331,000 to his personal use in violation of a state court’s Aug. 4, 2010, temporary restraining order barring removal or transfer of GDC’s assets and requiring that funds be held at Amalgamated. District court denied the government’s motion in limine to admitted the Aug. 4 order as evidence of Dupree’s state of mind. It deemed the order inadmissible hearsay, and found it excludable under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 because the danger of unfair prejudice outweighed its probative value. Finding that district court erred, Second Circuit held the government legitimately sought to admit the order as evidence that Dupree knew of his obligations under the credit agreement and that he intended to evade those obligations and defraud Amalgamated. The Aug. 4 order was probative of Dupree’s state of mind when he allegedly diverted funds from Amalgamated.
