United States v. $72,050.00 in United States Currency

587 F. App'x 241
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 24, 2014
Docket13-5605
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 587 F. App'x 241 (United States v. $72,050.00 in United States Currency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. $72,050.00 in United States Currency, 587 F. App'x 241 (6th Cir. 2014).

Opinions

COOK, Circuit Judge.

Vernon Smith challenges the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the government in this action seeking the forfeiture of two cashier’s checks in the aggregate amount of $122,000. Discerning no error, we affirm.

I.

On August 9, 2007, federal agents seized two cashier’s checks from Vernon’s home during a search executed as part of a fraud investigation into Target Oil and Gas Corporation (“Target Oil”), a company run by Vernon’s sons that engaged in speculative oil drilling. A grand jury indicted the sons, Michael and Christopher, along with four other Target Oil employees for offenses arising from a fraudulent scheme to induce investment in the drilling business. The four employees pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, but Michael and Christopher proceeded to trial.

The trial evidence showed that Target Oil mailed potential investors information packets that often misrepresented past success and exaggerated future potential. United States v. Smith, 749 F.3d 465, 474 (6th Cir.2014). The company’s “closers” then followed up with more misleading information and pressured clients to invest. Id. When dissatisfied investors complained, the company offered them additional shares in underperforming wells. Id. at 475. In the end,'“[o]f the millions of dollars invested in the company, only thousands of dollars were returned as royalties.” Id. at 474. The jury convicted Michael of conspiracy and eleven counts of mail fraud, and Christopher of seven counts of mail fraud. In convicting, the jury found that the cashier’s checks seized from Vernon’s home constituted proceeds of the crimes. (R. 31-2, Jury Verdict at 2.) We affirmed the judgment of the trial court over the parties’ claimed errors. See Smith, 749 F.3d at 498.

Next came the case we review here, the government’s in rem civil forfeiture action to seize the two cashier’s checks in the amount of $60,649.64 and $100,000. Vernon claimed ownership of the checks, and the government then moved for summary judgment, pointing to evidence that Vernon used investor money from Target Oil to purchase the checks. The district court found that $122,000 of investor money funded the cashier’s checks, and because the company’s scheme to defraud was “so pervasive[,] ... any money taken from investors^] funds can be considered the proceeds of a scheme or artifice to defraud.” (R. 43, Am. Op. & Order at 16-[243]*24318.) After rejecting Vernon’s innocent-owner defense, the district court ordered a forfeiture of the checks in that partial amount. Vernon appeals.

II.

We review de novo the district court’s grant of summary judgment, Briscoe v. Fine, 444 F.3d 478, 485 (6th Cir.2006), affirming if “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a).

A. Proceeds

Vernon first argues that the district court “applied the wrong legal standard” in concluding that the $122,000 constituted forfeitable proceeds. Under the civil forfeiture statute, ‘“proceeds’ means property of any kind obtained directly or indirectly, as the result of the commission of the offense giving rise to the forfeiture.” 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(2)(A). According to Vernon, the court should not have treated all of Target Oil’s investor funds obtained during the conspiracy as “proceeds” because the government needed to prove that the overt acts of fraud directly generated the funds Vernon claimed.

But the statutory language — defining proceeds to include property obtained “directly or indirectly” from the crime — and our criminal forfeiture cases endorse no such stringent standard. For instance, in Michael and Christopher’s appeal, we held that the investor money that funded the purchase of the cashier’s checks constituted forfeitable proceeds because “the transactions ‘all resulted directly or indirectly from a conspiracy to commit fraud.’ ” Smith, 749 F.3d at 488-89 (citation omitted); see also United States v. Warshak, 631 F.3d 266, 332 (6th Cir.2010) (holding entirety of the business’s revenue constituted forfeitable “proceeds that resulted, whether directly or indirectly,” from the conspiracy). Notably, Smith did not require evidence linking the funds to specific overt acts. 749 F.3d at 488 (“Ample evidence also supports the district court’s finding that Target Oil was used as a vehicle to commit fraud. The court concluded that fraud touched everything— from Target Oil’s banking accounts to its day-to-day operations — meaning that the various items connected to Target Oil’s revenue stream are subject to forfeiture.” (internal reference omitted)). Vernon makes no argument that we should interpret the civil forfeiture statute differently than the criminal forfeiture statute, and we see no reason to do so. Compare 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(2)(A) (defining forfeitable proceeds in civil context as “property ... obtained directly or indirectly, as the result of the ... the offense”), with 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(2) (providing for criminal forfeiture of the “proceeds the person obtained directly or indirectly, as the result” of the offense).

Vernon argues that his circumstances fall outside of the standard applied by our precedent for two reasons. First, he denies the existence of the conspiracy to defraud. But our previous decision held otherwise. See Smith, 749 F.3d at 488. Second, he points to two district court cases defining proceeds as “property that a person would not have but for the criminal offense,” see, e.g., United States v. Coffman, 859 F.Supp.2d 871, 875 (E.D.Ky. 2012), to argue that the government cannot satisfy this standard because his money flowed from legitimate transactions predating Michael and Christopher’s specific fraudulent acts. But this argument ignores the government’s authority to seize the proceeds that resulted directly or indirectly from the conspiracy to commit fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C), which began before Vernon obtained the money. [244]*244See also Warshak, 631 F.3d at 332 (finding argument that the government could not seize the proceeds from legitimate transactions without merit because “[a]ny money-generated through these potentially legitimate sales ... resulted ‘directly or indirectly’ from a conspiracy to commit fraud”). In sum, Vernon fails to highlight any legal error by the district court.

B. Investor Funds

Next, Vernon argues that district court erred in tracing $75,000 used to purchase one of the cashier’s checks to investor funds, offering a different explanation — unrelated to the fraud — for how the money appeared in his account.

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Bluebook (online)
587 F. App'x 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-7205000-in-united-states-currency-ca6-2014.