United States v. Hoskins

654 F.3d 1086, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5714, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16636, 2011 WL 3528735
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 12, 2011
Docket10-4131
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 654 F.3d 1086 (United States v. Hoskins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Hoskins, 654 F.3d 1086, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5714, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16636, 2011 WL 3528735 (10th Cir. 2011).

Opinions

TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

This case requires us to consider a sentencing judge’s discretion in establishing tax loss resulting from a tax evasion scheme. Jodi Hoskins was convicted of tax evasion after she and her husband1 failed to pay taxes for income they earned from Companions, a Salt Lake City escort service. The government contended the Hoskinses failed to account for more than one million dollars in income the escorts generated in cash payments and credit card receipts. At sentencing, the government’s tax loss was relevant to potential jail time and restitution under United States Sentencing Guidelines (USSG) § 2T1.1.

To minimize the tax loss for these purposes, the Hoskinses offered to the court hypothetical tax returns (it was too late to submit amended returns to the IRS) that accounted for the unreported income and attempted to take deductions they claimed they would have been entitled to but for the tax evasion. The district court rejected the tax returns and accepted the government’s tax-loss estimate. As we explain below, the district court did not err in rejecting the hypothetical return. We also dismiss Jodi Hoskins’s challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting her conviction, and the reasonableness of her sentence.

Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742, we therefore AFFIRM.

I. Background

Beginning in 2000, Jodi Hoskins (Hos-kins) managed and operated Companions, a Salt Lake City escort service founded and owned by her then-boyfriend and future husband, Roy Hoskins, who she married in April 2003. Hoskins managed Companions’ office, supervised employees, coordinated escort reservations, and maintained Companions’ credit card receipt [1089]*1089books. Hoskins’s name was on Companions’ bank account, and with her husband, she oversaw the company’s finances. According to a Companions employee, Hos-kins “controlled everything and ran the business.” R., Vol. II at 377.

Although they did not marry until 2003, the Hoskinses filed a joint U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, Form 1040, for tax year 2002. As a Schedule C business, Companions did not file its own tax return; rather, the Hoskinses accounted for Companions’ income on their personal returns. Thus, the joint 2002 return filed by the Hoskinses, which was prepared by an accountant, reported Companions’ income and expenses. Although Roy Hoskins owned Companions and provided most of the information supporting the 2002 return, Jodi Hoskins signed the return as well.

The 2002 return reported $902,750 in gross receipts from Companions. After an investigation, the government discovered that Companions received at least $1,053,552 in credit-card payments alone in 2002. Further, because Companions escorts explained that the company received 50-70% of its payments in cash, the government projected the cash intake for 2002 was equal to the credit-card receipts. Thus, the government estimated that Companions’ 2002 gross receipts were $2,107,-104 — more than $1.2 million in excess of the income claimed by the Hoskinses. The government also contended that some of the escorts were engaged in prostitution, and that Hoskins knew about the criminal activity.

In 2008, a federal grand jury charged Jodi Hoskins with willfully attempting to evade or defeat Roy Hoskins’s 2002 federal income taxes, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. Hoskins was convicted after a three-day bench trial. At sentencing, the district court credited the government’s estimates and found that for 2002, the joint tax return filed by the Hoskinses failed to report approximately $1.2 million in gross receipts, which resulted in a tax loss to the government of more than $485,000. The district court rejected Hoskins’s alternative accounting of the tax loss based on a hypothetical tax return that indicated a tax loss of $160,202.

Under the USSG, Hoskins was subject to a base offense level of 20 and a criminal history category of III. The district court pointed to the prostitution activities of Companions’ escorts and applied a two-level enhancement because it found Hos-kins “failed to report or to correctly identify the source of income exceeding $10,000 in any year from criminal activity.” USSG § 2Tl.l(b)(l). Accordingly, the presentenoe report’s (PSR) recommended sentencing range was 51 to 63 months. The lower tax-loss estimate offered by Hoskins would have moved the guideline range to 33 to 41 months. The district court used the higher range but applied a downward variance and sentenced Hoskins to 36 months’ imprisonment.

Contesting the district court’s factual findings, analysis, and sentencing calculation, Hoskins appeals her conviction and sentence.

II. Discussion

Hoskins raises three challenges on appeal: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support her conviction, (2) the district court’s calculation of the government’s tax loss was clearly erroneous, and (3) the district court erred in applying a sentencing enhancement for failing to report or identify sources of income derived from criminal activity. We discuss each in turn.

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Hoskins first contends insufficient evidence supports her conviction. She argues the government failed to establish that she willfully intended to submit false tax re[1090]*1090turns, because she claims she signed the 2002 return without knowing or understanding the need for and legal consequences of reporting understated income.

We review sufficiency of the evidence de novo. United States v. Parker, 553 F.3d 1309, 1316 (10th Cir.2009). Under due process principles, evidence is sufficient to support a conviction if, viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the government, a rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.; see also Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). “We will not weigh conflicting evidence or second-guess the fact-finding decisions of the [district court].” United States v. Summers, 414 F.3d 1287, 1293 (10th Uir. 2005).

Hoskins was convicted under 26 U.S.C. § 7201, which makes it a felony for “[a]ny person [to] willfully attempt[ ] in any manner to evade or defeat any tax.” To prove evasion under § 7201, “the government must show (1) a substantial tax liability, (2) willfulness, and (3) an affirmative act constituting evasion or attempted evasion.” United States v. Thompson, 518 F.3d 832, 850 (10th Cir.2008) (quotation omitted). Hoskins argues, first, that there was insufficient evidence of her willful intent to commit tax evasion, and second, that signing the 2002 tax return did not constitute an affirmative act of evasion. We are not persuaded by either argument.

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Bluebook (online)
654 F.3d 1086, 108 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5714, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 16636, 2011 WL 3528735, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hoskins-ca10-2011.