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In U.S. v. Seher, No. 07-13935 (March 26, 2009), the Court affirmed money laundering convictions but vacated the forfeiture judgment, in a case arising out of the use of jewelry stores in Atlanta to launder cocaine trafficking cash proceeds.
The Court rejected the argument that the indictment failed to charge the requisite mens rea for the money laundering offenses. The Court noted that the indictment cited specific subsections of the money laundering statutes. These subsections, in turn, contained mens rea elements. Thus, it was reasonable to infer that the grand jury found that the defendants had the intents to violate the laws.
The Court also rejected a duplicitous indictment challenge. The defendants argued that 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(3) contains three different offenses. Consequently, when certain counts of the indictment referenced different subsections of the same statute, they charged two different offenses in the same count. Although the defendants waived this challenge by failing to raise it pre-trial, the government itself waived the waiver on appeal, and the Court therefore considered the argument. The Court concluded that § 1956(a)(3) did not create separate offenses, but listed alternative mental states for a single offense.
Turning to the forfeiture order, the Court rejected the argument that the assets of the jewelry stores, and their bank accounts, should not have been forfeited, because they were not "involved" in the money laundering offenses. The Court found that one of the businesses was a "facade of legitimacy" for the money laundering enterprise. The other jewelry business, however, was unconnected to the unlawful laundering.
Finally, the Court that the record below was insufficient to determine whether the forfeiture of the jewelry business was an excessive fine in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Court therefore remanded the entire forfeiture order for reconsideration of this issue.
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In US v. Blackmon, No. 07-4237 (2/23/09), the 3rd Circuit addressed the interplay between the money laundering guideline, USSG 2S1.1(a), and relevant conduct, USSG 1B1.3. The Circuit accurately warned that the discussion of these issues is "abstruse."
The Circuit held (1) that the district court correctly applied the guidelines for "direct money laundering" under USSG 2S1.1(a)(1) because defendant was accountable for the underlying offense of drug distribution; and (2) that the district court properly counted as relevant conduct for the money laundering guidelines the cocaine conspiracy that defendant was involved in.
Blackmon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute over 5 kilos of cocaine, and to money laundering. The conspiracy involved Blackmon shipping Fed Ex packages of cocaine from California to conspirators in Philadelphia, in exchange for packages of cash that the coconspirators sent back to Blackmon. The FBI arrested the coconspirators, who began cooperating. FBI then set up a sting in which one of the coconspirators sent $15,000 to Blackmon as payment for a shipment of 1 kilo of cocaine. This constituted money laundering because the coconspirator stated that the money itself was the proceeds of drug trafficking. The FBI arrested Blackmon after seeing him pick up the money.
The Circuit ruled that Blackmon was engaged in "direct money laundering" under USSG 2S1.1(a)(1) because he committed the underlying offense of drug trafficking by agreeing to send the coconspirator cocaine.
The Circuit next ruled that in calculating the guidelines range for the money laundering, the district court correctly included as relevant conduct all of the drug trafficking from the conspiracy count. The Court rejected the defense argument that the money laundering offense level should be based only on the 1 kilo of cocaine to be sent in exchange for the $15,000. The Court reasoned that the more than 150 kilos from the cocaine conspiracy should be included as relevant conduct for the money laundering because it was relevant conduct for the drug distribution that was the underlying crime.
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July 26th, 2009UncategorizedIn U.S. v. Seher, No. 07-13935 (March 26, 2009), the Court affirmed money laundering convictions but vacated the forfeiture judgment, in a case arising out of the use of jewelry stores in Atlanta to launder cocaine trafficking cash proceeds.