Former Jefferies & Co. managing director Jesse Litvak warned an appeals court that his conviction for securities fraud could be used to ensnare the car salesmen he was compared to at the time of his arrest.

Litvak, who was found guilty in March of lying to customers about the price of mortgage-backed securities, yesterday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan to throw out the conviction, saying it could be used to turn "garden-variety statements" made in all kinds of negotiations into the basis for criminal charges.

"Every car salesman who tells a customer that he cannot lower his price any further because he would earn only a minuscule profit on the sale as it is would be guilty of fraud," Litvak's lawyers said in a filing.

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