United States v. Crystal Lundberg

990 F.3d 1087
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 17, 2021
Docket19-3477
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 990 F.3d 1087 (United States v. Crystal Lundberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Crystal Lundberg, 990 F.3d 1087 (7th Cir. 2021).

Opinion

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-3477 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.

CRYSTAL LUNDBERG, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 17-CR-555-2 — Elaine E. Bucklo, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED FEBRUARY 24, 2021 — DECIDED MARCH 17, 2021 ____________________

Before FLAUM, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges. KANNE, Circuit Judge. Over the course of less than two years, Crystal Lundberg went on a $5.8-million spending spree. In that short time, she spent more than a half-million dollars at exclusive stores, such as Nieman Marcus, Nordstrom, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton, and $23,000 at Victo- ria’s Secret. She incurred rental expenses exceeding $100,000 for a mansion in California. She bought a Jaguar automobile, diamonds, and Rolex watches. She paid for plastic surgery 2 No. 19-3477

and trips to places like Jamaica and Bora Bora. And she bought much, much more. The problem? The money she spent wasn’t hers. Nor was it Scott Kennedy’s, the tormented boyfriend who gave her the credit card she used. No, the money and credit card belonged to Kennedy’s employer, Nemera—intended for company purchases only. Nemera eventually caught on, and the couple’s scheme quickly unraveled. Kennedy cooperated with the govern- ment, pled guilty, and ultimately testified against Lundberg, who went to trial. The jury convicted Lundberg of five counts of wire fraud, and the court imposed a fifty-three-month sen- tence (plus well over $4 million in restitution). Lundberg now appeals her conviction and sentence. Be- cause we find no error in either, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND Nemera is a French company that designs and manufac- tures medical and drug-delivery devices. Scott Kennedy was an accountant employed as the controller for Nemera’s facil- ity in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. In this position, Kennedy had near-complete control over the facility’s finances, including its financial reporting, accounting, internal controls, budget- ing, credit cards, and central banking account. In 2012, Kennedy hired an escort named Crystal Lundberg through a website called Backpage (which has since been seized by the government for enabling prostitution). Evi- dently, Kennedy fell head over heels for Lundberg; he en- gaged her services several more times throughout the next few years, and they developed a romantic relationship. No. 19-3477 3

In May 2015, Kennedy opened an American Express ac- count on behalf of Nemera meant for company purchases from vendors. He had exclusive control over the card and was responsible for paying the bills from Nemera’s account. A couple months later, in July 2015, Lundberg asked Ken- nedy if she and her two daughters could move in with him. He readily agreed, paid off her hotel bill, bought her a car, and acquired a new apartment—then a five-bedroom house—to accommodate them all. Kennedy expected their new living arrangement to be per- manent, and because he was the sole source of income by this point, he promptly made efforts to stabilize their financial sit- uation. He spoke to Lundberg about his finances; asked her to sell some of her belongings to help cover expenses; requested that she put together a budget for things like her daughters’ aca- demic and extracurricular club fees; and suggested that she look into getting a job or government assistance. He also added Lundberg to his personal credit cards (but capped her spending at $1,500 per month, which apparently wasn’t enough for Lundberg, who opened a few additional credit lines for small amounts using Kennedy’s information without his knowledge). Despite these efforts, Kennedy’s debt burden ballooned— and fast. By October 2015, his personal credit cards were all maxed out and his finances were in shambles. The next month, Lundberg asked Kennedy for help with a “big Christmas” for her kids. Kennedy replied that he was “broke” and had “nothing more to give.” Lundberg sug- gested that they use the Nemera corporate card. Kennedy 4 No. 19-3477

objected at first—“Absolutely not. Can’t do it.”—and ex- plained that the card was a business card for business use. But he relented within a few days and handed over the Nemera card because he was “trying to be a provider for [the] family” and “make [Lundberg] happy.” He reiterated to Lundberg that he did not have the money to cover the ex- penses and would have to use Nemera’s funds. He also bought into Lundberg’s tale that she would gain access to a trust account set up by her adoptive father when she turned thirty, and that that money could be used to pay back Nem- era. (No such account existed.) From that point on, Kennedy and Lundberg made thou- sands of personal purchases on the Nemera card. The credit- card bills exploded, and when they repeatedly hit their $125,000 limit, Lundberg would ask that Kennedy pay down the card. He always did, using Nemera’s bank account. His own involvement notwithstanding, Kennedy made tepid efforts to stop or slow Lundberg’s spending. For exam- ple, in February 2016, he emailed Lundberg a detailed ac- counting of his earnings and the mounting bills to show her that they were living beyond their means. And after Lundberg made one $4,000 purchase at Louis Vuitton on the Nemera card, Kennedy told her: “Crystal, please don’t buy anymore [sic]. We can’t afford it, and we really don’t need it.” By June 2016, the spending had taken a toll on Kennedy, who checked himself into a hospital for mental health treat- ment. He also wrote Lundberg an email: I feel like I’m not being heard or believed, just used … . I have crossed my moral and ethical boundary by allowing you to spend on my No. 19-3477 5

corporate Amex and using company funds to pay the balances. This should have never happened. I have put myself out on a limb to provide all that you want at the risk of jail, my livelihood, and my sanity. But to no effect; Lundberg thereafter used the card to move herself out to San Diego, California, prepare to open her own spa, and lease a 7,000 square-foot home. (She was ap- proved for the lease only after providing the leasing company with doctored versions of Kennedy’s tax forms that appeared to reflect her personal income.) Even while pleading with Lundberg to stop spending, however, Kennedy continued taking no small part in it him- self. For example, he took a trip to Hawaii with Lundberg in July 2016 (on the corporate card), and when American Ex- press’s fraud-detection system blocked an attempted pur- chase (with the corporate card) at a jewelry kiosk, Kennedy— Lundberg at his side—called American Express to authorize the purchase. During a trip to Miami (on the corporate card) for Lundberg to receive plastic surgery (on the corporate card), Lundberg told Kennedy that she did not want to go to jail. Kennedy rejoined that they could stagger their sentences so someone could remain at home with the kids. In October 2016, Kennedy wrote another email to Lundberg, but he sent it to himself first so he could edit it. The email he sent to himself read: Am I just a bank account? You live in a mansion in California, constantly buying new gadgets, while I live in a hotel. All this spending is putting my career, my livelihood and my freedom at risk. I am commit- ting fraud and theft by allowing you to continue to 6 No. 19-3477

spend and live your dream, and what do I get in re- turn? Kennedy later testified that he sent a substantively identical email to Lundberg but deleted it after Lundberg responded through a series of text messages: “Omg please delete that email”; “Admitting your [sic] committing fraud”; “Delete that are you fucking crazy.” All the while, Kennedy diligently worked to conceal the fraud from his employer.

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Bluebook (online)
990 F.3d 1087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-crystal-lundberg-ca7-2021.