(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court left intact the fraud convictions of Platinum Partners LP co-founder Mark Nordlicht and former co-chief investment officer David Levy, refusing to hear arguments that they should be awarded a new trial.

The men said a federal appeals court was wrong to reinstate the convictions last year after a trial judge threw out the jury’s guilty verdict. The New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan had overstepped his authority. 

The Supreme Court made no comment in turning away the appeal.

Nordlicht and Levy argued unsuccessfully that federal district judges can act as a “thirteenth juror,” with the power to “order a new trial when the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.”

In urging the Supreme Court to reject the appeal, the Biden administration contended that “a district court may not grant a new trial simply because it disagrees with the verdict.” The administration said such a step is warranted “only in exceptional cases where the evidence preponderates heavily against the guilty verdict.”

Jurors found after a nine-week trial in Brooklyn that Nordlicht and Levy had funneled more than $77 million to Platinum by diverting the proceeds of asset sales tied to Black Elk Energy, one of the largest companies in the hedge fund’s portfolio.

Both men were found guilty on three counts tied to Black Elk: securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and wire fraud conspiracy. They were acquitted on five charges tied to the Platinum scheme. Neither man has been sentenced yet.

The case is Nordlicht v. United States, 21-1319.

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