In United States v. Kvashuk, --- F.4th ---, No. 20-30251 (9th Cir. 2022), the Court affirmed convictions on fraud-related counts in a case in which Kvashuk stole $10 million in digital gift cards from his employer, Microsoft, using login credentials he took from his coworkers.
"Kvashuk challenge[d] the denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized from his house on the ground that the search warrant lacked probable cause." He argued that the warrant affidavit failed to “establish a nexus between the unlawful activities and the places to be searched.”
The Court explained: "It is true that '[p]robable cause to believe that a suspect has committed a crime is not by itself adequate to secure a search warrant for the suspect’s home.' But 'the nexus between the items to be seized and the place to be searched' can rest on 'normal inferences as to where a criminal would be likely to hide” evidence of his crimes.'"
And "the nature of cybercrime— specifically, its reliance on computers and personal electronic devices—is relevant to probable cause for searching the suspect’s residence." Ultimately, the Court concluded, "the search warrant affidavit shows a fair probability that evidence of Kvashuk’s crimes would be found on a computer at his residence. Therefore, there was an adequate nexus between the unlawful activities and the place to be searched."
The Court also rejected a staleness claim, among other arguments.
As to the aggravated identity theft counts, the Court concluded that the individual Microsoft email accounts at issue satisfied the definition of "a means of identification" for purposes 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1).
