Bieganowski v. United States

United States Court of Federal Claims·Decided September 11, 2026·No. 26-165·Unpublished

Opinion

In the United States Court of Federal Claims ARTHUR C. BIEGANOWSKI,

Plaintiff, No. 26-cv-165 v. Filed: September 11, 2026 THE UNITED STATES,

Defendant,

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Plaintiff Arthur C. Bieganowski, proceeding pro se, seeks reconsideration of this Court’s dismissal of his Complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1). ECF No. 23 (Motion for Reconsideration or Motion); Bieganowski v. United States, No. 26-cv-165, 2026 WL 2225221 (Fed. Cl. July 14, 2026) (Order Dismissing Plaintiff’s Complaint or Order). Plaintiff seeks reconsideration of “two discrete jurisdictional issues” that he contends were insufficiently addressed by the Order. Mot. at 2. For the reasons explained below, Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 23) of this Court’s Order Dismissing Plaintiff’s Complaint is DENIED.

BACKGROUND

I. Plaintiff’s Criminal Conviction and Forfeiture Plaintiff formerly worked as a doctor practicing in the field of pain management in El Paso, Texas “from approximately 1978 until his arrest in 1998.” ECF No. 1 (Complaint). at 2. However, “on August 4, 1998 . . . a sealed indictment was filed containing a Notice of Forfeiture against Plaintiff's medical practice assets.” Id. Plaintiff characterizes the Notice of Forfeiture as a “seizure

and continued retention of Plaintiff’s medical practice assets and records,” which “effectively prevented operation of the practice and deprived Plaintiff of the use, income, and value of the business continuously” from the August 4, 1998, indictment to the present day. Id. at 2–3. Plaintiff claims “damages arising from the unlawful seizure and retention of his property and the deprivation of his right to earn income from his medical practice” in the amount of “not less than $345,270,000.” Id. at 1.

In 2000, Plaintiff was convicted in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (District Court) of “nine counts of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and one count of conspiracy to money launder” as part of a wide-ranging scheme that involved fraudulent billing and medical treatments. United States v. Bieganowski, 313 F.3d 264, 269–70. (5th Cir. 2022)). The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed Plaintiff’s conviction in 2002. Id. at 271. In 2003, the Supreme Court of the United States denied Plaintiff’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Bieganowski v. United States, 538 U.S. 1014 (2003).

Plaintiff was sentenced to 168 months in prison, subjected to forfeiture of millions of dollars of assets, and ordered to pay restitution. Id. at 271; Compl. at 2, 11; United States v. Bieganowski, et al., No. 3:98-cr-00959-DB (W.D. Tex.) (District Court Case) ECF No. 465. For example, Plaintiff forfeited interest in proceeds from the sale of real property in New Mexico and forfeited $11 million pursuant to the District Court’s October 2000 final order of forfeiture. District Court Case ECF No. 465 at 2. Plaintiff also forfeited real property in Grand Cayman to partially satisfy the $11 million forfeiture judgment pursuant to a September 2003 order from the District Court. ECF No. 1-2 (Plaintiff’s Appendix) at 27–28. 1 The District Court also sentenced

1 Plaintiff’s property in the Grand Cayman was allegedly forfeited pursuant to an Order of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands on an application by the Attorney General in the Grand Court under the Mutual Legal Assistance (United States of America) Law 1986. Pl.’s App. at 37–39.

Plaintiff to pay $23,049,853,38 in restitution pursuant to a sealed presentence report. ECF No. 10- 1 (Defendant’s Appendix) at 50. 2 II. Plaintiff’s Recent Filings in the District Court Plaintiff was released from prison in 2010. Compl. at 3. In an attachment to his Complaint, Plaintiff included an October 29, 2025 email from the Court Services Supervisor for the Western District of Texas, which apparently responded to a request from Plaintiff by advising him that the Court Services Supervisor “found nothing to indicate that the victim names were released. Historically, victims lists were . . . never released to protect those named therein.” Pl.’s App. at 15. The email further states that the “docket sheet or a review of the docket in PACER will be your best source of information for any documents or entries that were received on this case.” Id.

On December 8, 2025, Plaintiff filed a document tiled “Independent Action Under Rule 60(d)(1) and Rule 60(d)(3) and Motion for Relief from Void Judgment under Rule 60(b)(4)” on the District Court docket of his original criminal case. District Court Case ECF No. 739 (District Court Motion) at 1. Plaintiff’s District Court Motion argued that according to two emails, including the October 29, 2025 email from the Court Services Supervisor, included in an attachment to his Complaint in the instant action, “documents required by 18 U.S.C. § 3664(d)(1), (d)(5) were never created” and that “[w]ithout these materials, the restitution portion of the judgment is void.” Id. at 2. Plaintiff further argued that because the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA) “mandates identification of victims, loss amounts, and schedules—and none exist . . . [the] financial penalties cannot stand.” Id. at 3–4.

2 Citations throughout this Memorandum and Order correspond to the ECF-assigned page numbers, which do not always correspond to the pagination within the document.

On January 28, 2026, the District Court denied Plaintiff’s District Court Motion. District Court Case ECF No. 761 (District Court Order) at 3. The District Court also sanctioned Plaintiff $1,000 for “persisting in filing frivolous motions and other pleadings,” and then ordered the District Court clerk of court to close the case. Id. at 3–4. Two days later, Plaintiff filed his Complaint in this Court. Compl. at 1.

III. Plaintiff’s Court of Federal Claims Action In his Complaint filed in this Court, Plaintiff asserted that he does not “challeng[e] the validity of [his] conviction or sentence” but instead brought this action to challenge only “the government’s post-judgment handling of seized property and statutory credits.” Id. at 2. Plaintiff stated that he sought compensation for seized property, the government’s failure to apply credits for his seized property, and the deprivation of his medical practice’s operation and assets. Id. Plaintiff also claimed that “Government action deprived [him] of [his] property rights” in violation of the Fifth Amendment and additionally asserted an “unjust enrichment” claim. Id. at 9; ECF No. 1-1 (Attachment to Complaint) at 1, 4.

Throughout his Complaint, Plaintiff invoked various provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3664, which provides procedures to govern the issuance and enforcement of an order of restitution as part of the MVRA. Compl. at 2, 3, 6, 7, 11; see also 18 U.S.C. § 3664. Specifically, Plaintiff sought to recover for “(a) seized property exceeding any legitimate restitution under 18 U.S.C. § 3664, which limits restitution to actual victim losses; (b) the government’s failure to apply mandatory credits under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(j)(2) for seized property; and (c) deprivation of the practice’s legitimate operations and assets.” Compl. at 2. Plaintiff asserted that his “injury ar[ose] from the government’s continuing restraint/retention and resulting loss of use beginning in 1998 and

continuing through the present, which prevented the practice from operating as a going concern and deprived Plaintiff of the use and economic value of the practice property.” Id. at 2–3.

Plaintiff alleged the “violat[ion] [of] 18 U.S.C. § 3664(a)” since, he claimed, no “victim list exists in the court records,” no “appraisals were conducted on the seized assets, as required by law,” and “no credits were applied under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(j)(2) for seized property.” Id. at 3. Section 3664(a) reads in part:

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