Justia White Collar Crime Opinion Summaries

The defendant was charged with one count of wire fraud after orchestrating a scheme in which he falsely presented himself as a wealthy and experienced investor to at least ten individuals, promising guaranteed returns on investments in the stock market and a cannabis store. Instead of investing the funds, he used the money for personal expenses. To maintain the appearance of legitimacy, he provided promissory notes and sent updates to victims about their supposed investments. When victims requested their money, he made excuses and, at times, threatened them.The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina accepted the defendant’s guilty plea to wire fraud. At sentencing, the court applied a two-level enhancement for abuse of trust under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3, based on evidence that the defendant had assumed a position of trust with his victims by posing as a financial advisor and investor. The court also imposed two discretionary conditions of supervised release, requiring participation in substance abuse testing and treatment, and transitional support services. The defendant objected to the abuse-of-trust enhancement but did not object to the supervised release conditions.On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal interpretations de novo. The Fourth Circuit held that the abuse-of-trust enhancement was properly applied because the defendant provided sufficient indicia to his victims that he held a position of private trust, even though he was an imposter. The court also held that the challenged supervised release conditions did not constitute an improper delegation of judicial authority to the Probation Officer, relying on its precedent. The judgment of the district court was affirmed. View "United States v. Brewer" on Justia Law

Two former employees of a large technology company, along with a real estate developer and related individuals and entities, were alleged to have engaged in a kickback scheme involving real estate transactions in Northern Virginia. The employees, responsible for managing real estate deals for the company, allegedly steered contracts to the developer’s firm in exchange for secret payments funneled through a network of trusts and entities. The scheme purportedly inflated the company’s costs for both leasing and purchasing properties, with millions of dollars in kickbacks distributed among the participants. The company discovered the scheme after a whistleblower report, conducted an internal investigation, and reported the matter to federal authorities.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on several claims, including those under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, fraud, unjust enrichment, and conversion, and partially on a civil conspiracy claim. The district court found that the company failed to establish the existence of a RICO enterprise, did not show injury to its business or property, and that equitable claims were precluded by the availability of legal remedies or the existence of contracts. The court also ruled that an attorney defendant could not be liable for conspiracy with his clients.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s summary judgment. The appellate court held that genuine disputes of material fact existed regarding the existence of a RICO enterprise, whether the company suffered financial harm, and the viability of the fraud, unjust enrichment, conversion, and civil conspiracy claims. The court clarified that the company was entitled to pursue legal and equitable remedies in the alternative and that the attorney’s potential liability for conspiracy could not be resolved on summary judgment. The case was remanded for further proceedings. View "Amazon.com, Inc. v. WDC Holdings LLC" on Justia Law

Amir Golestan, founder and CEO of Micfo, LLC, orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently obtain approximately 1.3 million valuable IPv4 Internet Protocol addresses from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) by creating fictitious companies and individuals. He then resold some of these addresses for profit. The scheme was uncovered when ARIN blocked a large attempted sale. Golestan and Micfo were indicted by a federal grand jury on 20 counts of wire fraud.The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina denied Golestan and Micfo’s motion to dismiss the indictment, finding that IP addresses constituted “property” under the wire fraud statute. During a bench trial, after the government presented substantial evidence, Golestan and Micfo changed their pleas to guilty. The district court accepted the pleas without advising Golestan of possible immigration consequences. Sentencing was delayed for 17 months, during which Golestan moved to continue sentencing pending the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Ciminelli, and later sought to withdraw the guilty pleas, arguing that Ciminelli invalidated the prosecution’s theory and that he was not properly advised of immigration consequences. Micfo also argued Golestan lacked authority to plead on its behalf. The district court denied these motions and sentenced Golestan to 60 months’ incarceration and Micfo to probation.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgments. The court held that the government’s theory of wire fraud did not rely on the “right-to-control” doctrine rejected in Ciminelli, but rather on deprivation of traditional property interests. The court found the district court’s failure to advise Golestan of immigration consequences was harmless error, as he was a naturalized citizen. The court also held that the record supported Golestan’s authority to plead for Micfo and declined to address ineffective assistance of counsel on direct appeal. View "US v. Golestan" on Justia Law

Cory Fitzgerald Sanders, through his company SandTech, LLC, contracted with the federal government to supply teleconference equipment and support services. Sanders won contracts by bidding on the online platform "FedBid" and affirming that he would supply the requested equipment or services according to the contract terms. However, Sanders failed to fulfill these obligations, providing used equipment instead of new, misrepresenting his company's certifications, and using falsified documents to claim higher certification levels. After several contracts were terminated, Sanders formed a new company, CyCorp Technologies, LLC, to continue bidding on federal contracts, again using fraudulent means to secure contracts and conceal the true nature of the equipment provided.The United States District Court for the District of Maryland convicted Sanders of wire fraud, submitting false claims, and submitting a false document. Sanders was sentenced to 45 months in prison. He appealed, arguing that a jury instruction misstated the law and that the district court erred in applying a sentencing enhancement for using "sophisticated means" to carry out his fraud.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case. The court found no error in the jury instructions when considered as a whole, determining that they adequately informed the jury of the required intent and did not mislead or confuse them. The court also upheld the district court's application of the sophisticated means enhancement, noting that Sanders' conduct involved especially complex or intricate offense conduct, including the use of multiple business names, falsified certifications, and blind-shipping to conceal the source of equipment. The Fourth Circuit affirmed both Sanders' convictions and his sentence. View "United States v. Sanders" on Justia Law

Donald Booker owned and operated United Youth Care Services, which billed North Carolina’s Medicaid program for millions of dollars’ worth of medically unnecessary drug tests. Booker was involved in a scheme where his company, along with United Diagnostic Laboratories, recruited individuals to submit to drug testing, which was then billed to Medicaid. The company used several medical providers to certify the testing as medically necessary, even though these providers often did not meet with the beneficiaries. Booker directed the testing protocols, which included testing all participants twice per week regardless of medical need. He also arranged kickback schemes with other entities to recruit Medicaid beneficiaries for the drug tests.The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina convicted Booker on ten counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, commit health care fraud, pay illegal kickbacks, and money laundering. Booker represented himself at trial, and the jury found him guilty on all counts. The district court denied his motion for judgment of acquittal and sentenced him to 200 months in prison, considering a loss amount exceeding $9.5 million.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case and affirmed the district court’s judgment. The appellate court found that there was substantial evidence to support Booker’s convictions, including testimony from co-conspirators and evidence of kickback payments. The court also rejected Booker’s arguments regarding the nondelegation doctrine, the sufficiency of the evidence for his money-laundering convictions, and the alleged Confrontation Clause violations. The court upheld the district court’s loss-amount calculation and found Booker’s sentence to be substantively reasonable, noting that his co-defendants were not similarly situated and had cooperated with the government. View "United States v. Booker" on Justia Law

Three defendants, Jose Ordonez-Zometa, Jose Hernandez-Garcia, and Jose Ortega-Ayala, were convicted in the District of Maryland for their involvement in a racketeering enterprise under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), murder in aid of racketeering, and conspiracy to destroy and conceal evidence. The case centers around the brutal murder of a 16-year-old gang member, John Doe, by members of the Los Ghettos Criminales Salvatruchas (LGCS), a branch of the MS-13 gang. The defendants were implicated in the planning, execution, and cover-up of the murder, including the disposal of the victim's body and the destruction of evidence.In the lower court, the defendants filed several motions to suppress evidence obtained from traffic stops, custodial interrogations, and searches of residences, cell phones, and social media accounts. The District Court for the District of Maryland denied these motions, finding that the traffic stop and subsequent arrest of Ordonez-Zometa were lawful, the search warrants were supported by probable cause, and the defendants' statements were voluntary. The court also denied Hernandez-Garcia's motion for a new trial, concluding that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the jury's verdict.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case and affirmed the lower court's decisions. The appellate court held that the traffic stop and arrest of Ordonez-Zometa were justified by an outstanding arrest warrant and probable cause. The court also found that the search warrants for Ortega-Ayala's residence, cell phones, and Facebook account were supported by probable cause and were not overly broad. Additionally, the court ruled that Hernandez-Garcia's motion for a new trial was properly denied, as the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the convictions. Finally, the court concluded that the government had presented sufficient evidence to establish that the LGCS enterprise's activities affected interstate commerce, satisfying the requirements for RICO and VICAR convictions. The defendants' convictions and sentences were thus affirmed. View "US v. Ordonez-Zometa" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs, business entities owning recovery rights assigned by health insurers and other third-party Medicare payors, alleged that Defendants, including a drug manufacturer, a specialty pharmacy, and healthcare nonprofits, colluded to inflate the price and quantity of the drug Xenazine. This alleged scheme purportedly violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and various state laws, causing the Assignors to reimburse inflated Xenazine prescriptions at supra-competitive prices.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the class-action complaint with prejudice, concluding that Plaintiffs failed to adequately allege that Defendants’ conduct proximately caused their injuries. The court emphasized that RICO’s proximate-causation requirement focuses on the directness of the harm, not its foreseeability. The court found the alleged causal chain too attenuated, involving numerous independent actors like physicians and pharmacists, and dismissed the state-law claims for similar reasons.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the federal RICO claims, agreeing that Plaintiffs failed to establish proximate causation. The court noted that the alleged scheme had more direct victims, such as distributors and wholesalers, and that the volume of Xenazine prescriptions depended on the independent decisions of doctors. The court also affirmed the dismissal of the state-law consumer-protection and unjust-enrichment claims, finding them insufficiently pleaded.The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s conclusion that Plaintiffs had standing to bring claims on behalf of unidentified assignors, remanding those claims for dismissal without prejudice. The court upheld the district court’s denial of post-judgment relief and leave to amend the complaint, concluding that further amendment would be futile. View "MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC v. Lundbeck LLC" on Justia Law

In 2019, the FBI and DEA, along with local law enforcement, investigated a Mexican drug trafficking organization operating in Mexico, California, Georgia, and North Carolina. Oscar Pliego-Pineda, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was identified as a key figure in coordinating methamphetamine deliveries and managing drug proceeds. He arranged multiple drug transactions and coordinated logistics for methamphetamine shipments, including converting liquid methamphetamine to crystal form.The United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina sentenced Pliego-Pineda to 120 months in prison after he pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The court applied a three-level managerial role enhancement under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which Pliego-Pineda contested, arguing that the district court erred in applying the enhancement and that his sentence was substantively unreasonable.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case. The court upheld the district court's application of the managerial role enhancement, finding that Pliego-Pineda exercised significant decision-making authority, participated extensively in the conspiracy, and managed the logistics of drug transactions. The court noted that the conspiracy involved at least ten individuals and large quantities of methamphetamine. Despite an error in considering Pliego-Pineda's supervision of an undercover officer, the court found sufficient evidence to support the enhancement.The Fourth Circuit also found Pliego-Pineda's sentence substantively reasonable, affirming the district court's decision. The court emphasized that the sentence was within the properly calculated Guidelines range and thus presumptively reasonable. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Pliego-Pineda. View "United States v. Pliego-Pineda" on Justia Law

Rojay Lawson was involved in a telemarketing sweepstakes scheme based in Jamaica that targeted elderly individuals in the United States. Lawson, operating from South Carolina, collected and laundered the fraudulent proceeds, keeping a portion for himself and sending the rest to his co-conspirators in Jamaica. The scheme defrauded at least 179 victims, most of whom were elderly, out of approximately $720,000. Lawson pleaded guilty to multiple counts, including wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud, and mail fraud.The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina sentenced Lawson to 78 months in prison and ordered him to pay $405,401 in restitution. Lawson challenged his sentence, arguing against the application of a vulnerable victim enhancement, the denial of a minor role reduction, and the calculation of the loss amount. The district court overruled his objections, finding that the scheme specifically targeted elderly victims and that Lawson played a significant role in the conspiracy.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case and affirmed the district court's decision. The appellate court held that the vulnerable victim enhancement was appropriate because the elderly victims were particularly susceptible to the telemarketing fraud, and Lawson knew or should have known about their vulnerability. The court also upheld the denial of a minor role reduction, noting that Lawson's involvement in collecting and laundering the funds was substantial and essential to the scheme. Additionally, the court found no error in the calculation of the loss amount, which was based on actual losses suffered by the victims. The appellate court concluded that Lawson's sentence was both procedurally and substantively reasonable. View "United States v. Lawson" on Justia Law

Dr. Anita Jackson, an otolaryngologist, was convicted of various offenses related to her private medical practice in North Carolina. She was the leading Medicare biller for balloon sinuplasty surgery, a procedure treating chronic sinusitis. Jackson reused single-use medical devices, specifically the Entellus XprESS Multi-Sinus Dilation Tool, on multiple patients without proper sterilization, leading to potential contamination. She also incentivized employees to recruit Medicare patients for the procedure, often bypassing proper medical assessments. Additionally, Jackson falsified documents and patient signatures in response to Medicare audits.The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina convicted Jackson on all counts, including violating the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act (FDCA) by holding for resale adulterated medical devices, violating the federal anti-kickback statute, making materially false statements, committing aggravated identity theft, mail fraud, and conspiracy. Jackson was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison and ordered to pay over $5.7 million in restitution. She moved for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial, which the district court denied.The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reviewed the case. Jackson argued that the devices were not "held for sale" under the FDCA, that her actions were protected under 21 U.S.C. § 396, and that the Government relied on a defective theory of per se adulteration. She also challenged the exclusion of certain evidence and jury instructions. The Fourth Circuit found no reversible error in the district court's rulings, holding that the devices were indeed "held for sale," that § 396 did not protect her conduct, and that the Government's theory was valid. The court also upheld the exclusion of evidence and the jury instructions. Consequently, the Fourth Circuit affirmed all of Jackson's convictions. View "United States v. Jackson" on Justia Law