United States v. Griffin

524 F.3d 71, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 8388, 101 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1815, 2008 WL 1759161
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedApril 18, 2008
Docket07-1475, 07-1477
StatusPublished
Cited by73 cases

This text of 524 F.3d 71 (United States v. Griffin) 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. Griffin, 524 F.3d 71, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 8388, 101 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1815, 2008 WL 1759161 (1st Cir. 2008).

Opinion

HOWARD, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Nadine Griffin of filing a false income tax return for 1999 in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). The district court initially sentenced Griffin to 27 months imprisonment and a year of supervised release. Over a month later, the court resentenced Griffin, reducing her term of incarceration to 21 months.

Before us are an appeal and a cross-appeal. In the appeal, Griffin challenges her conviction. She argues that the court erred in instructing the jury on the elements of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) and in admitting certain evidence. In the cross-appeal, the government contends that the district court did not have the authority to resen-tence Griffin because, under the terms of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(a), the court either lacked jurisdiction or the initial sentence was not “clear error.” We affirm the conviction, vacate the sentence, and remand for the imposition of the initial sentence.

I. Facts

We rehearse the background facts here, reserving the discussion of other facts for our later examination of the appellate claims. We view these facts in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict. United States v. Turner, 501 F.3d 59, 63 (1st Cir.2007).

In each of Griffin’s 1998 and 1999 tax returns she reported an annual income that did not exceed $20,000. Neither of these returns reflected income Griffin earned working as an upper-level salesperson for a company called Global Prosperity Inc. (Global). In that capacity, Griffin made sales of over $700,000 and netted a profit of about $600,000 in 1998. She made sales of nearly $200,000 and netted a profit of about $137,000 in 1999.

Global was a multi-level marketing company that sold a series of audio-cassette tapes as well as tickets to offshore seminars where lectures were given and additional products sold. The Global products and lectures promoted various investment and tax avoidance strategies. As a sales *75 person for Global, Griffin sold these materials to customers. She eventually became one of Global’s most successful salespeople and belonged to its top sales group.

Griffin set up bank accounts in order to store her Global proceeds and to manage her business with Global and Global customers. In addition to an offshore account, Griffin opened two domestic accounts. These accounts were opened in the names of Capital Finance Strategies (CFS) and Angelica Holdings (AH). Griffin, however, controlled the accounts and often drew money from them to finance personal expenditures. Griffin filed W-8 forms with the IRS when opening these accounts, indicating that both CFS and AH were foreign entities.

At some point, Griffin told another salesperson at Global that she did not plan to pay taxes on her income from Global. Consistent with this statement, Griffin did not report her Global income when meeting with the individuals who prepared her 1998 and 1999 tax returns. She did, however, report income she received for her work as a salesperson for two other marketing companies. These companies, unlike Global, had sent Form 1099’s to both the IRS and Griffin that reflected Griffin’s gross sales. 1

Despite filing returns in 1998 and 1999 that reflected a relatively modest income, when Griffin applied for a mortgage and car loan she reported a significantly higher income. Her mortgage application reflected an annual income of $540,000 and her car loan application an annual income of $100,000.

Ultimately, Griffin’s financial situation drew the government’s attention. In July 2005, she was indicted and charged with two counts of filing a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). The jury convicted her of one count, but did not reach a unanimous verdict on the other. The court initially sentenced Griffin to 27 months’ imprisonment and a year of supervised release. Over a month later, however, it resentenced Griffin to 21 months’ imprisonment with the same period of supervised release.

II. Discussion

A. Appeal

Griffin presents two arguments on appeal. Her first, and primary argument, is that the court erroneously instructed the jury regarding the elements of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). Her second is that the court erred in admitting certain evidence. We consider both arguments in turn. 2

1. Jury Instructions

26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) provides, in part, that any person who

[wjillfully makes and subscribes any return, statement or other document, which contains or is verified by a written declaration that it is made under the penalties of perjury, and which he does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter ... shall be guilty of a felony.
We have established that this offense has four elements:
(1) that the defendant made or caused to be made, a federal income tax return *76 for the year in question which he verified to be true; (2) that the tax return was false as to a material matter; (3) that the defendant signed the return willfully and knowing it was false; and (4) that the return contained a written declaration that it was made under the penalty of perjury.

United States v. Boulerice, 325 F.3d 75, 79-80 (1st Cir.2003).

At the close of the defendant’s case, the district court instructed the jury on these four elements. Of relevance are the court’s instructions regarding the second and third elements, materiality and willfulness. The court instructed:

Material means that it makes a difference. It makes a difference as to the actual tax liability, the amount owed ... Willful means an intentional violation of a known duty . .•. [T]he language I want you to use here is, willful means an intentional violation of a known duty. No one can be convicted of filing a false tax return because they made a mistake or because they were careless or because they had a genuine, but mistaken, belief in the requirements of the tax code.

At the government’s request, the court supplemented its instruction on the willfulness element with a “willful blindness” instruction. This instruction stated:

She cannot, however, be what we call willfully blind to the duty to know.

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Bluebook (online)
524 F.3d 71, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 8388, 101 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1815, 2008 WL 1759161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-griffin-ca1-2008.