United States v. Daniel F. Aversa, United States of America v. Vincent Mento, United States of America v. William J. Donovan

984 F.2d 493, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 328
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJanuary 13, 1993
Docket91-1363, 91-1364 and 91-1574
StatusPublished
Cited by61 cases

This text of 984 F.2d 493 (United States v. Daniel F. Aversa, United States of America v. Vincent Mento, United States of America v. William J. Donovan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First 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. Daniel F. Aversa, United States of America v. Vincent Mento, United States of America v. William J. Donovan, 984 F.2d 493, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 328 (1st Cir. 1993).

Opinions

OPINIONS EN BANC

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

The government charged each of these appellants with criminal violations of the Bank Records and Foreign Transactions Act (BRFTA), Pub.L. No. 91-508, 84 Stat. 1114 (1970) (codified as amended in various sections of 12 U.S.C., 15 U.S.C., and 31 U.S.C.). Appellant Donovan was charged with, and convicted of, failure to file currency transaction reports (CTRs). See 31 U.S.C. § 5313 (1988). Appellants Aversa and Mentó were charged with, and convicted of, structuring bank deposits to avoid triggering currency transaction reporting requirements. See 31 U.S.C. § 5324 (1988). In each case, the underlying legal requirement comprises part of Subchapter II of the BRFTA. Subchapter IPs criminal penalty provision, 31 U.S.C. § 5322(a), proscribes only “willful” violations of the sub-chapter’s provisions.

A panel of this court initially heard Donovan’s appeal and decided it adversely to him. We subsequently withdrew the panel opinion and granted rehearing en banc, consolidating the appeal with appeals involving Aversa and Mentó, so that we might settle the meaning of the term “willful” as used in Subchapter II.1 The en banc court now affirms Donovan’s conviction while vacating the other convictions and remanding those cases for further proceedings.

1. BACKGROUND

These cases originated in different ways and traveled different paths to reach our doorstep. We sketch the background and then frame the common issue that all three appeals present.

A. Donovan.

Donovan, the president and chief executive officer of Atlantic Trust Company, a Boston-based financial institution, moonlighted as a real estate developer. A friend, Dr. Edward Saba, gave Donovan substantial sums of cash to deposit at Atlantic Trust for eventual investment in a New Hampshire housing subdivision. Eschewing Atlantic Trust’s standard protocol for routing deposits through tellers, Donovan personally deposited Saba’s money in five chunks of $30,000, $92,000, $30,000, $55,000, and $30,000, respectively. Donovan made the deposits at various times between March 13, 1987 and April 21, 1987. Although Donovan was the bank’s legal compliance officer — a status which presumptively suggests his familiarity with banking laws — he did not prepare CTRs for any of these deposits. Indeed, Donovan fended off his subordinates’ concerns about the unorthodox way he was handling Saba’s cash.

At trial, Donovan admitted that he was aware of the law requiring him to file CTRs for cash deposits of $10,000 or more, but insisted that he mistakenly believed Saba’s deposits came within one of the law’s exemptions.2 The district court in[495]*495structed the jury that it was the government’s burden to prove Donovan “knowingly” and “willfully” failed to file CTRs. The court twice explained these elements (once during the main charge and once in answering an inquiry during jury deliberations):

An act or a failure to act is knowingly done if it is done voluntarily and intentionally and not because of mistake or accident or other innocent reason. An act or a failure to act is done willfully if done voluntarily and intentionally and with the specific intent to do something the law forbids, that is to say with bad purpose, either to disobey or disregard the law.

Despite Donovan’s importuning, the district court refused to tell the jury that any mistake by Donovan, regardless of its nature, would necessitate acquittal. The jury found Donovan guilty.

B. Aversa and Mentó.

Aversa and Mentó were partners in a real estate business. In January 1989, they sold a parcel of land, splitting the proceeds. At the time, Aversa’s marriage was foundering. In order to conceal his share of the profits from his wife, Aversa asked Mentó to deposit the receipts in Men-to’s personal bank account rather than in the partners’ joint business account. Men-tó agreed. Aversa signed a statement acknowledging his responsibility for one-half of the funds to insulate Mentó from potentially adverse tax consequences.

Mentó and Aversa knew that Mento’s bank was legally required to file CTRs for all deposits of $10,000 or more. Fearing that the resultant paper trail might obviate their efforts to hide the cash from Mrs. Aversa, the defendants made serial deposits and withdrawals in sums under $10,000. Although both men admitted that they knew about the CTR requirement, they claimed to be unaware that structuring bank transactions, even if designed to avoid causing the bank to file CTRs, was itself a crime.

Following the return of indictments, the government moved in limine to prevent the introduction of evidence supporting the defendants’ mistake-of-law theory. Judge Loughlin granted the motion. Aversa then pled guilty to structuring, but did so conditionally, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2), reserving his mistake-of-law defense for appeal. Mentó opted for trial. At the trial, the district court, over timely objection, instructed the jury that mistake of law was not a defense to structuring. The jury found Mentó guilty.

C. The En Banc Issue.

Although these appellants breached different regulatory provisions of Subchapter II, each was convicted under the subchap-ter’s criminal penalty provision, 31 U.S.C. § 5322, and each raised a mistake-of-law defense. We convened the en banc court specifically to examine the efficacy of such defenses in the CTR and antistructuring contexts. At bottom, this task requires us to elucidate the state of mind that Congress required when it limited such violations to willful misconduct.

II. DISCUSSION

We begin with an analysis of the governing statute, exploring its interstices and explicating its meaning. We then proceed to tackle the knotty mens rea questions that confront us.

A. The Statutory Scheme.

In 1970, concerned about the ease with which criminals, particularly drug traffickers, were able to exchange ill-gotten profits for “clean” money, Congress enacted the BRFTA. Among other things, Subchapter II delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) the power to require banks and individuals to file CTRs with the Internal Revenue Service when cash changed hands.3 See, e.g., 31 U.S.C. [496]*496§ 5313. The Secretary did not exercise his delegated power in respect to individuals, but required banks to file CTRs when transactions involved $10,000 or more. See 31 C.F.R. § 103.22(a)(1) (1989).

Although Subchapter II’s transaction report requirement expanded the armamenta-rium of federal law enforcement agents, it was too easily circumvented.

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Bluebook (online)
984 F.2d 493, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 328, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-daniel-f-aversa-united-states-of-america-v-vincent-ca1-1993.