Double Jeopardy
After only three and a half years of his already lenient five-year term, Charles Ponzi was released. He was then promptly rearrested and charged afresh by the state on 22 counts of larceny. Ponzi was shocked, as far as he was concerned he’d plea-bargained with federal prosecutors to have all other charges dropped in exchange for confessing to their indictments.
In addition, he believed that charging him for the same crimes twice amounted to double jeopardy. Ponzi took his case to the Supreme Court where, on March 27, 1922, a judge ruled that federal plea bargains should have no bearing on any state charges. It was also ruled that double jeopardy could not apply, as the federal charges were for mail fraud, and the state charges were for the entirely different offense of larceny.
