21-1083 United States v. Antonius IN THE
United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit ________
AUGUST TERM, 2022
ARGUED: FEBRUARY 23, 2023 DECIDED: JULY 10, 2023
No. 21-1083, 21-1409, 21-2082
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee,
v.
STEVEN ANTONIUS, AKA SEALED DEFENDANT 1, SHERVINGTON LOVELL, AKA SEALED DEFENDANT 1, ARGEMIRO ZAPATA-CASTRO, AKA SEALED DEFENDANT 1, Defendants–Appellants,
GODOFREDO LEANDRO GONZALEZ, LUIS RAFAEL FEBRES MONASTERIO, MURVIN REIGOUD MAIKEL, OMAR TORRES, MOSES ROOPWAH, NEREDIO-JULIAN SUCRE, DAVID CARDONA-CARDONA, AKA SEALED DEFENDANT 1, JEAN-CLAUDE OKONGO LANDJI, JIBRIL ADAMU, YOUSSOUF FOFANA, Defendants. ________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 21-1083 United States v. Antonius 1:18-cr-00601-PGG–Gardephe, District Judge. ________
Before: CALABRESI, LYNCH , and ROBINSON, Circuit Judges.
________
Defendants–Appellants Steven Antonius, Shervington Lovell, and Argemiro Zapata-Castro (“Appellants”) appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Gardephe, J.). Appellants were prosecuted under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (“MDLEA”) for conspiring to traffic drugs on the high seas using a stateless vessel. Before ultimately pleading guilty to the offense, they submitted a joint motion to dismiss their indictments on the ground that conspirators operating from a foreign country who were never physically on the high seas and who had no ties to the United States could not constitutionally be subject to prosecution under the MDLEA. The district court denied Appellants’ motion to dismiss. On appeal, Appellants argue that their prosecution under the MDLEA violated due process because their conduct lacked a nexus with the United States and that, by applying the MDLEA to their conduct, Congress exceeded its Article I powers. We disagree with these arguments. We therefore AFFIRM the district court’s denial of Appellants’ motion to dismiss.
JILL R. SHELLOW, Law Offices of Jill R. Shellow, White Plains, NY, for
Defendant–Appellant Steven Antonius.
RUTH M. LIEBESMAN, Ruth M. Liebesman, Attorney-at-Law, Fair Lawn,
NJ, for Defendant–Appellant Shervington Lovell.
2 21-1083 United States v. Antonius PETER J. TOMAO, Law Office of Peter J. Tomao, Garden City, NY, for
Defendant–Appellant Argemiro Zapata-Castro.
ELINOR L. TARLOW, Assistant United States Attorney (Matthew J.C.
Hellman, Stephen J. Ritchin, Assistant United States Attorneys, on the
brief), for Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, New York, NY.
CALABRESI, Circuit Judge:
Defendants–Appellants Steven Antonius, Shervington Lovell, and
Argemiro Zapata-Castro (“Appellants”) appeal their respective convictions,
which were entered after each pled guilty to conspiring to violate the Maritime
Drug Law Enforcement Act (“MDLEA”). Appellants, along with other co-
conspirators and undercover informants of the United States Drug Enforcement
Administration (“DEA”), planned for the shipment of cocaine from Guyana to the
Netherlands. The plan included a series of steps. First, two boats, each carrying
approximately 600 kilograms of cocaine, were to meet off the coast of Barbados.
There, the second boat would transfer its contraband to the first. Next, the first
boat, now carrying 1,200 kilograms of cocaine, would set sail for Europe, where it
3 21-1083 United States v. Antonius would meet a third boat at a location between the coast of Ireland and the Azores
Islands. The cocaine on the first boat would then be transferred to the third boat.
The third boat, disguised as a fishing vessel with a crew wearing fisherman’s
uniforms, would deliver the cocaine to the Netherlands—its final destination. At
no point did Appellants plan for the drugs to be delivered to the United States or
to travel in United States waters.
Each of the Appellants played a leadership role in the drug-trafficking
conspiracy. They attended planning meetings in the Spring and Summer of 2018,
which took place in Guyana and Jamaica. During these meetings Appellants, their
co-conspirators, and the undercover DEA informants discussed the logistics,
route, and cost of the cocaine shipment, as well as the supplies, financing, and
amount of cocaine they would each contribute to the endeavor. Appellants also
communicated by radio, using code names for their operation.
Zapata-Castro agreed to procure the first boat—the one which was to make
the transoceanic journey. Zapata-Castro also agreed to provide the crew and three
months’ worth of rations. Antonius and Lovell agreed to supply the cocaine and
to contribute to transportation expenses. Antonius contributed €135,000 and
Lovell contributed $100,000-worth of Guyanese currency to the endeavor.
4 21-1083 United States v. Antonius Antonius and Zapata-Castro were to decide the coordinates of the location where
the first and second boats would meet off the coast of Barbados. They both also
rallied their co-conspirators to consolidate their collective cocaine shipments into
a single voyage, as initial discussions had contemplated multiple trips. Using his
connections in the Netherlands, Antonius additionally arranged for the third boat
and its crew to be disguised as a fishing operation and to meet the first at a point
between the coast of Ireland and the Azores Islands.
Despite Appellants’ grand plans, the cocaine did not make it very far. On
July 27, 2018, the United States Coast Guard intercepted the first boat—the one
procured by Zapata-Castro—hundreds of miles off the coast of Barbados. The boat
did not display any country’s flag. Members of the Coast Guard boarded the
vessel, where its captain informed them that the vessel could not claim any
nationality and that the mission of the voyage was trafficking drugs. The Coast
Guard did not locate any documentation on board the vessel that indicated that it
was registered with a particular nation. After a search, the Coast Guard
discovered over 600 kilograms of cocaine hidden in duffel bags stored beneath
5 21-1083 United States v. Antonius wooden planks and covered by mattresses. 1 The Coast Guard arrested the boat’s
six crew members. 2 None of the Appellants were on board.
Antonius, Lovell, and Zapata-Castro were not United States citizens. In fact,
other than Antonius, who had been to the United States once on vacation in 2014,
they had not set foot on United States soil until they were extradited to be
prosecuted in this case. The vessel did not originate in the United States, was not
bound for the United States, and was not intercepted in United States waters.
Appellants were arrested in Jamaica on October 25, 2018. On November 8,
2018, the United States government charged each Appellant with one count of
conspiracy to violate the MDLEA by attempting to ship 624 kilograms of cocaine
from Guyana to the Netherlands in violation of the MDLEA, 46 U.S.C. §§ 70503
1 The Coast Guard also recovered a magazine with thirty rounds of ammunition. 2 Four of the crew members pled guilty to conspiring to distribute, or possess with intent to distribute, 500 or more grams of cocaine while onboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See, e.g., Gonzalez Plea Tr. at 5, United States v. Gonzalez, et al., No. 1:18-cr-00601- PGG (S.D.N.Y. 2021) (ECF No. 120). These four crew members were each sentenced to a five-year term of imprisonment. Torres Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 236); Monasterio Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 239); Gonzalez Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 459); Maikel Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 496). Two of the crew members pled guilty to conspiring to violate maritime drug laws. One of these crew members was sentenced to a two-year term of imprisonment and the other was sentenced to time served. Roopwah Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 238); Sucre Judgment at 2, id. (ECF No. 312).
6 21-1083 United States v. Antonius and 70506(b). On November 30, 2018, Appellants were extradited to the Southern
District of New York.
Appellants filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that charging them under the
MDLEA violated their Fifth Amendment right to due process because (1) they
were never on board a vessel that was subject to United States jurisdiction and (2)
there was no nexus between their alleged criminal conduct and the United States.
While the motion was pending, this Court decided United States v. Alarcon Sanchez,
972 F.3d 156 (2d Cir. 2020), which held that foreign, land-based conspirators who
planned to transport drugs from Colombia to Australia without traveling through
United States waters—but who had minor contact with the United States as part
of their efforts to further the conspiracy—could be prosecuted under the MDLEA.
The district court asked the parties for supplemental briefing in light of that
decision. Largely based on Alarcon Sanchez, the district court denied Appellants’
joint motion to dismiss.
Each Appellant subsequently pled guilty. Antonius was sentenced to
twelve years’ imprisonment; Lovell was sentenced to eleven years’ imprisonment;
and Zapata-Castro was sentenced to thirteen years’ imprisonment. Though each
Appellant’s plea agreement included an appeal waiver, the government conceded
7 21-1083 United States v. Antonius that they were not foreclosed from appealing the issues presented in their motions
to dismiss.
On appeal, all three Appellants again claim that their prosecution under the
MDLEA denied them due process because their conduct lacked a nexus to the
United States. They additionally argue, for the first time on appeal, that as applied
to their case, Congress exceeded its authority under Article I of the Constitution in
enacting the MDLEA.
DISCUSSION
We affirm the decision of the district court. Appellants’ conviction under
the MDLEA did not violate their due process rights, nor did Congress overstep
its powers under Article I when it enacted the MDLEA, as applied to the facts of
Appellants’ case.
I. The MDLEA
The MDLEA prohibits knowingly or intentionally distributing, or
possessing with intent to distribute, a controlled substance “[w]hile on board a
covered vessel.” 46 U.S.C. § 70503(a).
8 21-1083 United States v. Antonius While the MDLEA’s substantive prohibition contains “the locational
limitation of ‘on board a covered vessel,’” we held in Alarcon Sanchez that
persons who are “not themselves . . . on board the covered vessel” may
nevertheless be prosecuted under the MDLEA’s attempt-and-conspiracy
provision, 46 U.S.C. § 70506, for knowingly and intentionally conspiring to
violate the MDLEA with others who were on board a covered vessel. See 972
F.3d at 164–65. Thus, Appellants concede that the MDLEA, as written, covers
them. Their arguments are that—as applied to them—such MDLEA
prosecutions violate the Constitution.
A “covered vessel” is one that is “subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States.” 46 U.S.C. § 70503(e)(1). The United States has jurisdiction over “a vessel
without nationality.” Id. § 70502(c)(1)(A). A vessel lacks a nationality where, as
here, the captain or “individual in charge fails, on request of an officer of the
United States authorized to enforce applicable provisions of United States law, to
make a claim of nationality or registry for that vessel.” Id. § 70502(d)(1)(B).
The MDLEA explicitly gives the United States jurisdiction over offenses
committed “outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.” Id.
§ 70503(b). Additionally, where “the offense was . . . committed upon the high
9 21-1083 United States v. Antonius seas, or elsewhere outside the jurisdiction of any particular State or district,” an
individual in violation of Section 70503 “may be tried in any [United States]
district.” Id. § 70504(b)(2). Whether the vessel in question is subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States is not an element of the offense; rather, it is a
preliminary question for the trial judge to determine and it is the government’s
burden to show that the United States had jurisdiction over the vessel. Id.
§ 70504(a); United States v. Prado, 933 F.3d 121, 129–30 (2d Cir. 2019).
The parties do not seriously dispute that the vessel used in the drug-
trafficking operation was stateless, that the vessel in question and those on board
it were subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, or that the Appellants in
this case were co-conspirators with those actually on board the vessel.
II. Due Process
At issue in the instant case, therefore, is whether due process permits the
MDLEA to be used to prosecute conspirators in drug-trafficking schemes who
are not citizens of the United States, who act exclusively on foreign soil, who do
not utilize contacts or resources in the United States, and who were not on board
the seized vessel.
10 21-1083 United States v. Antonius Appellants argue that allowing such individuals to be prosecuted under
the MDLEA would be fundamentally unfair because, in their view, the law
requires a nexus between Appellants’ actions and the United States but, here, no
nexus existed. Appellants support their argument by asserting that “[n]one of
the conduct, the meetings, or the alleged instrumentalities of the offense occurred
in or had any relation to the United States” nor did Appellants “inten[d] to have
contact with the United States, or to cause any harm to the interests of the United
States.” Appellants’ Br. at 19–20.
The government counters that under our Circuit’s case law, no nexus is
required to bring MDLEA prosecutions against persons involved in trafficking
drugs on stateless vessels. The government further argues that, even were it
required to show nexus, it could do so because the aim of its prosecution was to
curtail drug trafficking on the high seas, which specifically threatens the security
and societal well-being of the United States—and that this is nexus enough.
The district court agreed with the government. It did “not read the
MDLEA, its legislative history, or relevant case law as requiring a nexus to the
United States beyond this nation’s compelling interest in ‘curtailing international
drug trafficking on the high seas.’” United States v. Cardona-Cardona, 500 F. Supp.
11 21-1083 United States v. Antonius 3d 123, 135 (S.D.N.Y. 2020) (quoting Alarcon Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 169). The
district court also explained that Appellants had fair warning that they might be
subject to prosecution in the United States because they knew that their conduct
was criminal and would therefore subject them to prosecution somewhere. Id. at
136.
Generally, “[i]n order to apply extraterritorially a federal criminal statute
to a defendant consistently with due process, there must be a sufficient nexus
between the defendant and the United States, so that such application would not
be arbitrary or fundamentally unfair.” United States v. Epskamp, 832 F.3d 154, 168
(2d Cir. 2016) (quoting United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56, 111 (2d Cir. 2003))
(alteration in original). When individuals who are not United States citizens act
on foreign soil, nexus is present where “the aim of [the] activity is to cause harm
inside the United States or to U.S. citizens or interests.” Id. (quoting United States
v. Al Kassar, 660 F.3d 108, 118 (2d Cir. 2011)).
But in the context of the MDLEA, we have held that no showing of nexus
is required for the prosecution of individuals accused of trafficking drugs who
are actually on board a stateless vessel. This is so “because such prosecutions are
not arbitrary, since any nation may exercise jurisdiction over stateless vessels,
12 21-1083 United States v. Antonius and they are not unfair, since persons who traffic drugs may be charged with
knowledge that such activity is illegal and may be prosecuted somewhere.”
United States v. Van Der End, 943 F.3d 98, 106 (2d Cir. 2019).
Van Der End, however, deliberately left open the question of whether proof
of nexus was constitutionally required to determine whether “persons who are
not on board a vessel without nationality may be prosecuted for violating the
MDLEA.” Id. at 105 n.4. A year later, when confronted with that very question
in Alarcon-Sanchez, we considered the differences between “seafaring
defendants” who “had forfeited their protections under international law and
were therefore fair game for any nation to ‘subject them to their laws’” and land-
based conspirators who were “obviously subject” to the “jurisdiction and laws”
of the country in which their actions in advancing the conspiracy took place. 972
F.3d at 168–69 (quoting Van Der End, 943 F.3d at 105). Ultimately, we declined to
decide whether nexus was required in such circumstances. We instead held that
the due process rights of the particular land-based conspirators in Alarcon
Sanchez were not violated even assuming arguendo that a nexus requirement
applied. Id.
13 21-1083 United States v. Antonius For the same reason, we need not decide whether proof of nexus with the
United States must be established in cases involving land-based conspirators
using stateless vessels on the high seas to traffic drugs. That is because, even
assuming a nexus requirement, the harm caused by drug trafficking on the high
seas threatens the societal well-being of the United States. In enacting the
MDLEA, Congress explicitly found that “trafficking in controlled substances
aboard vessels is a serious international problem, is universally condemned, and
presents a specific threat to the security and societal well-being of the United
States.” 46 U.S.C. § 70501. As we explained in Alarcon Sanchez, conspiring to
traffic controlled substances presents the same threat to the security and societal
well-being of the United States and, therefore, constitutes a sufficient nexus. See
972 F.3d at 169; see also Epskamp, 832 F.3d 154, 168 (“For non-citizens acting
entirely abroad, a jurisdictional nexus exists when the aim of that activity is to
cause harm inside the United States or to U.S. citizens or interests.” (quoting Al
Kassar, 660 F.3d at 118) (emphasis added)).
Appellants argue that our nexus determination in Alarcon Sanchez should
not be adopted in this case because the facts in that case meaningfully differ from
the facts here. Appellants point out that in Alarcon Sanchez, the actions of some
14 21-1083 United States v. Antonius of the defendants in furtherance of the conspiracy involved contact with the
United States. And, in Alarcon Sanchez, we did mention that the conspirators in
that case “us[ed] a U.S.-registered vessel and procur[ed] false visas in the United
States.” 972 F.3d at 169. But our decision did not rest on these connections with
the United States. Rather, our decision in Alarcon Sanchez depended on our
determination that international drug trafficking on the high seas is inherently
related to the specific interests of the United States and thus constituted adequate
nexus. Id. 3
Our holding in Alarcon Sanchez also made clear that Appellants had
adequate warning that their actions could be prosecuted in the United States. In
Alarcon Sanchez, we held that the conspirators need not have understood that
their conduct would subject them to prosecution in the United States specifically,
as long as they knew their actions were criminal and could subject them to
3 Recently, a district court in the District of Puerto Rico similarly recognized that “[p]recedent from sister jurisdictions suggests that the MDLEA extends to extraterritorial conspiracies (i.e. defendants who plan drug-trafficking ventures but never leave the country of origin),” when evaluating whether foreign, land-based defendants could be prosecuted under the MDLEA for planning to traffic drugs from Colombia to Portugal. United States v. Serrano, 618 F. Supp. 3d 70, 71–72 (D.P.R. 2022) (citing Alarcon-Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 165; United States v. Ballestas, 795 F.3d 138, 145 (D.C. Cir. 2015)) (ultimately holding that the defendants’ motion to dismiss was not ripe for adjudication).
15 21-1083 United States v. Antonius prosecution somewhere. Id. We explained that the conspirators’ prosecution
under the MDLEA was “neither arbitrary nor fundamentally unfair” because
they “were aware that their scheme to transport cocaine on the high seas was
illegal and could result in their criminal prosecution ‘somewhere.’” Id. (quoting
Al Kassar, 660 F.3d at 119). They, therefore, “were not ensnared by a trap laid for
the unwary.” Al Kassar, 660 F.3d at 119.
It is certainly plausible—and even likely—that Appellants never expected
to be subject to prosecution by the United States even though they may have
expected to be subject to prosecution by Guyana or Jamaica, where their actions
to further the conspiracy took place, or by the Netherlands, the planned
destination for the contraband. But because Appellants understood that their
efforts to traffic drugs would subject them to criminal liability in some
jurisdiction, our case law clearly holds that they had notice consistent with due
process to be prosecuted under the MDLEA in the United States. See, e.g.,
Alarcon Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 169; Epskamp, 832 F.3d at 168–69. 4
4 Moreover, no specific proof is required to establish that perpetrators of international illegal drug trafficking know that their conduct is criminal. See, e.g., Van Der End, 943 F.3d at 106 (“[W]e have little trouble concluding that those who participate in international drug trafficking
16 21-1083 United States v. Antonius As we held in Alarcon Sanchez, we conclude here that, “in light of the
conspiracy’s nexus to United States interests in eliminating drug trafficking on
the high seas, and the fair warning we ascribe to those that participate in such
conspiracies, . . . due process was not offended by defendants’ MDLEA
prosecutions.” 972 F.3d at 169.5
III. Article I
Appellants claim that applying the MDLEA to their foreign, land-based
activities is an invalid exercise of congressional power under Article I.
Appellants did not raise this argument before the district court. We nevertheless
activity are aware that such conduct is illegal.”). Even so, the record supports that Appellants knew their conduct was illegal. They used code names for the vessels they planned to use to transport the drugs, and they planned for the crew on the final boat which would deliver the cocaine to the shores of the Netherlands to disguise themselves as fishermen.
At oral argument, Appellants argued that the fact that it was a DEA informant who arranged for the co-conspirators to use a stateless vessel, thereby subjecting the vessel to the jurisdiction of the United States, should suffice to establish that Appellants had not intended to be subject to United States jurisdiction. That argument is foreclosed by Alarcon Sanchez. In that case, it was “[a]t the direction of Homeland Security[] [that] the cooperating source” arranged use of the drug vessel, and yet the foreign, land-based conspirators were still subject to the MDLEA’s reach. Alarcon Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 160. 5 We reserve for another day the question of whether foreign, land-based conspirators trafficking drugs not destined for the United States may be prosecuted under the MDLEA if they specifically planned to use a vessel that had been properly registered with a foreign nation, but where the crew defied that plan.
17 21-1083 United States v. Antonius choose to consider it,6 and review the district court’s decision for plain error.
Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b). Plain-error review requires that we determine whether (1)
there was an error, (2) the error was clear or obvious and not subject to
reasonable dispute, (3) the error affected Appellants’ substantial rights, and (4)
the error seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the
judicial proceedings. United States v. Marcus, 560 U.S. 258, 262 (2010).
The Constitution’s Define and Punish Clause gives Congress the power to
“define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and
Offences against the Law of Nations.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 10. This Clause
grants Congress three individual powers: (1) to define and punish piracy, (2) to
define and punish felonies committed on the high seas, and (3) to define and
punish offenses against the Law of Nations. Alarcon Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 169–70.
We conclude that the district court did not err when it held that Appellants may
be prosecuted under the MDLEA because doing so does not exceed Congress’s
power to punish felonies on the high seas.
6 See United States v. Bodnar, 37 F.4th 833, 843 (2d Cir. 2022).
18 21-1083 United States v. Antonius Appellants reason that they could only have been constitutionally subject
to the MDLEA as a result of Congress’s power to punish offenses against the
Law of Nations. They argue that, because they were never physically on the high
seas themselves, Congress’s power to punish felonies on the high seas cannot
subject them to prosecution under the MDLEA. Appellants further claim that,
because their crime does not concern piracy, the congressional power to punish
piracy also cannot provide Congress the means to subject them to the MDLEA’s
reach. And, relying on an Eleventh Circuit case, United States v. Bellaizac-Hurtado,
700 F.3d 1245 (11th Cir. 2012), they contend that the congressional power to
punish offenses against the Law of Nations does not allow Congress to punish
drug trafficking because drug trafficking is “not a violation of customary
international law.” Id. at 1258.
Appellants’ reasoning is misguided. They are incorrect that only the
congressional power to punish offenses against the Law of Nations applies to the
prosecution of their conduct. Instead, we have held that punishing drug
trafficking on the high seas “falls squarely within [Congress’s] constitutional
power to punish felonies on the high seas,” including the punishment of
conspirators on land. Alarcon Sanchez, 972 F.3d at 170 (emphasis added). In so
19 21-1083 United States v. Antonius holding, our Court considered, and rejected, the same argument Appellants
make here: that because Congress’s power to punish felonies “contains locational
language: the high seas,” “the MDLEA cannot constitutionally be construed to
reach [the] conduct” of a defendant who was not personally “on the high seas in
connection with the charged conspiracy.” Id. at 167. Thus, just as Alarcon
Sanchez decides Appellants’ due process challenge, that case decides their Article
I challenge.
Moreover, the case Appellants rely on, Bellaizac-Hurtado and its sequela,
are in fact consistent with our precedent. In Bellaizac-Hurtado, the defendants
were in Panamanian waters and not on the high seas. 700 F.3d at 1248–49. And
for that reason only, Congress’s ability to punish felonies on the high seas was
held not to have been the source of its power to proscribe their conduct as it can,
and does, here. Indeed, the Eleventh Circuit has since explained (by summary
order) that where the MDLEA has been invoked under the congressional power
to punish felonies on the high seas, as here, “the assertion of jurisdiction over
stateless vessels on the high seas in no way transgresses recognized principles of
international law.” United States v. Macias, 654 F. App’x 458, 461 (11th Cir. 2016)
(quoting United States v. Marino–Garcia, 679 F.2d 1373, 1382 (11th Cir. 1982)).
20 21-1083 United States v. Antonius Furthermore, when we read the language of the MDLEA to cover land-
based conspirators in Alarcon Sanchez, we noted that the Necessary and Proper
Clause of the Constitution allows the application of the MDLEA to land-based
conspirators. 972 F.3d at 167–68. And we there held that it is “necessary and
proper for Congress to confer federal jurisdiction over all conspirators, both
those who go on the seas and those who remain on land.” Id. at 167. That is
because “prosecuting MDLEA conspirators who are not on the high seas is a
means that is rationally related to the legitimate end of prosecuting MDLEA
conspirators who are on the high seas.” Id. (emphasis added).
To hold otherwise, moreover, would be to encourage a sentencing scheme
that punishes only the lowest-level members of the conspiracy—those who
physically transport the drugs on the high seas—while the masterminds on
land—usually with more power, money, and resources—operate free from the
MDLEA’s reach. See id. at 166 (declining to read “the attempt-and-conspiracy
provision” in a way that “would immunize” foreign land-based conspirators—
who are often “the higher-ups that engineered the shipment in the first place”—
because such a reading would “undercut[] Congress’s findings on the scope and
gravity of the threat posed by drug trafficking aboard vessels”). And this would
21 21-1083 United States v. Antonius contradict the “long[-]recognized” common-law principle that “persons who
intentionally direct or facilitate the crimes physically executed by others must be
held accountable for their actions.” United States v. Hoskins, 902 F.3d 69, 77 (2d
Cir. 2018).
Lastly, Appellants have raised one claim that was not addressed in Alarcon
Sanchez—that Congress exceeded its Article I powers by expanding the definition
of “stateless vessel” in the MDLEA beyond its internationally recognized
definition. Appellants, however, acknowledged at oral argument that they know
of no authority to support this claim.
Appellants originally relied on a decision of the First Circuit for support in
their briefing. But that decision has since been withdrawn. See United States v.
Dávila-Reyes, 23 F.4th 153 (1st Cir. 2022), withdrawn by, 38 F.4th 288 (2022)
(granting rehearing en banc). And, the First Circuit had recognized even in its
withdrawn decision the constitutionality of the provision under which
Appellants were prosecuted—specifically, that Congress’s passage of
§ 70502(d)(1)(B), deeming a vessel stateless “when the individual in charge of a
22 21-1083 United States v. Antonius vessel fails to make a claim of nationality,” is “clearly consistent with
international law.” Id. at 186–87.7
Moreover, our own Court’s law is clear. We have long read the United
Nations Convention on the High Seas to indicate that a vessel “which does not
sail under the flag of one state to whose jurisdiction it has submitted” is “a
stateless vessel” and “may not claim the protection of international law and does
not have the right to travel the high seas with impunity.” United States v. Pinto-
Mejia, 720 F.2d 248, 260 (2d Cir. 1983).
Since no authority supports Appellants’ argument that Congress exceeded
its Article I powers by extending the MDLEA to foreign, land-based conspirators
orchestrating the trafficking of drugs aboard a stateless vessel, the district court
did not err, let alone commit plain error, when it held Appellants could be
prosecuted under the MDLEA.
CONCLUSION
7 Indeed, even had Dávila-Reyes remained good law in the First Circuit, it would be inapposite. The panel opinion in Dávila-Reyes held that Congress overstepped its Article I powers when it passed § 70502(d)(1)(C), which deemed stateless those vessels whose captains make “a claim of nationality recognized by international law,” but where “the identified country neither confirms or denies that claim.” 23 F.4th at 187. And that is not the statutory mechanism for determining statelessness at issue in the instant case.
23 21-1083 United States v. Antonius We have considered all of Appellants’ other arguments and find them to be
without merit. We AFFIRM the decision of the district court.