United States v. Enright

46 F. App'x 66
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 18, 2002
DocketNo. 99-5144
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 46 F. App'x 66 (United States v. Enright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Enright, 46 F. App'x 66 (3d Cir. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

COWEN, Circuit Judge.

Daniel Enright was found guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 371 by conspiring to defraud the United States, to commit tax evasion (in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201), commit wire fraud on the State of New Jersey (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343), and to commit money laundering (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957). He was also convicted of fourteen counts of attempting to evade excise taxes (in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201), eleven counts of wire fraud (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343), eleven counts of money laundering (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957), and one count of evading currency reporting requirements (in violation of 31 U.S.C. §§ 5316, 5322). En-right was sentenced to 200 months, and ordered to pay $1,000,000 in restitution. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, some of the District Court’s evidentiary rulings and jury instructions, as well as his sentence. He also asserts that the District Court improperly allowed an amendment to or variance from the terms of the indictment. We will affirm.

I.

Enright and his coconspirators participated in a “daisy chain” scheme to evade excise taxes on the sale of certain kinds of fuel. The elements of such schemes have been detailed sufficiently elsewhere. See, e.g., United States v. Morelli, 169 F.3d 798, 801 (3d Cir.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 820, 120 S.Ct. 63, 145 L.Ed.2d 54 (1999) (citations omitted). During the prosecution period, Enright operated as the president of Petro Plus Oil (“PetroPlus”), a company that bought and sold [69]*69fuel at the bottom of the chain. We will add further factual detail below as it becomes necessary to the legal discussion.

Enright was convicted of a multiple-object conspiracy contained in Count One of the Superseding Indictment, along with multiple counts of tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering, and evading currency reporting requirements.

II.

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence PetroPlus Was The Taxpayer

Enright argues that because PetroPlus was not the federal or New Jersey state excise taxpayer, the evasion counts should have been dismissed. When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain a conviction, we must ask whether any rational jury could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. See United States v. Veksler, 62 F.3d 544, 551 (3d Cir.1995) (citations omitted).

We are satisfied that a rational finder of fact could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the government met its burden of proof. A jury could rationally conclude that PetroPlus was responsible for the unpaid federal and New Jersey State excise taxes. The record is replete with evidence of an agreement between Enright and his coconspirators whereby Kings would purchase number 2 oil from a major fuel supplier in a tax-free transaction to be delivered to PetroPlus in subsequent transactions without the taxes ever being paid. This involved an elaborate and complex daisy chain involving fictitious paper sales of the fuel to make it appear that a sham company above PetroPlus in the chain had actually incurred and paid the taxes on the sale of the number 2 oil, when in fact the taxes had not been payed. The record also reflects that PetroPlus then sold the oil at prices that purported to include the federal and New Jersey state excise taxes, when in reality as well known to Enright the taxes had never been payed. The record reflects numerous other examples from the paper trail of the daisy chain.

The jury considered and rejected En-right’s claim that PetroPlus did not incur the tax liability. The District Court specifically instructed the jury that, in determining whether the government had proven the attempted evasion of tax charged in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt, the “first question for you to determine is whether a tax was due and owing from PetroPlus to the United States.” App. at 614. It is apparent from the voluminous record that the trial provided overwhelming evidence from which a rational jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that PetroPlus incurred the taxes.

B. Jury Instructions

Enright argues that the District Court improperly charged the jury on knowingly and willfully. He cites no legal authority in his two-paragraph analysis on this issue. “We will reverse the [District [Cjourt’s denial to charge a specific jury instruction only when the requested instruction was correct, not substantially covered by the instructions given, and was so consequential that the refusal to give the instruction was prejudicial to the defendant.” United States v. Phillips, 959 F.2d 1187, 1191 (3d Cir.1992). Our review of whether the District Court stated the appropriate legal standards in its charge is plenary. United States v. Johnstone, 107 F.3d 200, 204 (3d Cir.1997). The jury charge must clearly articulate the legal standards at issue and be structured to [70]*70avoid confusion, and we examine the charge in its entirety. Id.

The District Court charged the jury as follows:

The word “willfully,” as used in section 7201, means a voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty. Under section 7201, a defendant has a legal duty not to act to evade a tax obligation. Thus, to find a defendant guilty, you must find that the Government has proven that he or she acted voluntarily and intentionally and with the specific intent to keep from the Government a tax imposed by the tax laws that a defendant knew there was a legal duty to pay. An act is done “knowingly” only if it is done purposely and deliberately and not because of mistake, accident, negligence, or other innocent reason.
Although, as I previously instructed, you must find beyond a reasonable doubt that PetroPlus owed unpaid taxes, it is not required that you find a particular defendant knew who was the proper taxpayer. However, you must find beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant acted voluntarily and intentionally and with the specific intent to keep from the Government a tax imposed by law that a defendant knew there was a legal duty to pay.

App. at 617.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 F. App'x 66, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-enright-ca3-2002.