173283P.pdf   02/01/2019  United States  v.  Seng Xiong
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  17-3283
   U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota - St. Paul   
   [PUBLISHED] [Wollman, Author, with Colloton and Benton, Circuit Judges] 
   Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The government prosecuted 
   defendant for mail and wire fraud in connection with his promotion of the 
   creation of a Hmong homeland. The district court did not plainly err in 
   requiring defendant, before trial, to show actual authority for his public 
   authority defense and it did not err in preventing him from raising the 
   defense at trial when he failed to do so; nor did the court err in 
   precluding him from presenting an entrapment by estoppel defense in light 
   of his failure to offer any evidence; the district court's questions to 
   defendant during a pretrial conference did not violate his Fifth Amendment 
   right against self-incrimination; defendant's argument that the court 
   violated his Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process was violated when 
   the court required him to present actual authority to present his defenses 
   and by determining that defendant could not refer to U.S. or U.N. 
   officials when asserting his innocent intent defense is rejected; 
   defendant's sentence was not substantively unreasonable and his argument 
   that the court gave inadequate weight to the sentencing goal of reducing 
   disparity among similarly situated defendants is rejected; court would not 
   consider an argument raised for the first time in the reply brief.