United States v. Hudson

879 F. Supp. 1113, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20357, 1994 WL 776321
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 16, 1994
DocketCR-92-152-T
StatusPublished

This text of 879 F. Supp. 1113 (United States v. Hudson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Hudson, 879 F. Supp. 1113, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20357, 1994 WL 776321 (W.D. Okla. 1994).

Opinion

*1114 ORDER

RALPH G. THOMPSON, District Judge.

Before the court is the motion of defendants John Hudson, Larry Baresel and Jack Butler Rackley to dismiss the August 1992 indictment for criminal law violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 371, 656 and 1005. Defendants were alleged to have violated those statutes by mismanagement and illegal operation of several banks. These violations were based on the same lending transactions which were the subject of prior administrative sanctions imposed against defendants by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”). The OCC action culminated in the execution by defendants of a Stipulation and Consent Order (“Consent Order”) which, inter alia, prohibited defendants from future participation in banking activities and imposed monetary fines for alleged federal law violations.

Defendants moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that it constitutes punishment for the same conduct which was the subject of the Consent Order and therefore violated the double jeopardy clause. This court denied that motion, finding that the Consent Order contained a knowing and voluntary waiver of the defendants’ double jeopardy claim. The court further found that, in any event, the sanction prohibiting participation in banking activities and the fines were not punitive measures encompassed by the double jeopardy clause.

Defendants appealed that decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed in part and reversed and remanded for further action. United States v. Hudson, 14 F.3d 536 (10th Cir.1994). The Tenth Circuit reversed the determination that the Consent Order included a waiver, but affirmed the decision that the prohibition against future participation in banking activities was not punitive. 14 F.3d at 539, 541. The Tenth Circuit reversed the decision that monetary sanctions were not punitive and, remanded the action for further consideration of the effect of the monetary fines. Id. at 542^13. The court has held an evidentiary hearing and the parties have submitted additional briefs on the issues presented. The question before the court on remand is whether the Consent Order monetary sanctions and the indictment address the same conduct by defendants and, if so, whether the monetary sanctions imposed by the OCC are remedial or punitive.

Double jeopardy rights arise where an individual is punished twice for the same conduct or offense. The test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one is whether each provision “requires proof of an additional fact which the other does not.” Burke v. Board, 940 F.2d 1360, 1367 (10th Cir.1991), citing Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed. 306 (1932). If the same offense results in criminal punishment and civil money penalties, multiple punishments, exist for purposes of double jeopardy where “a civil penalty [is] so extreme and so divorced from the government’s damages and expenses as to constitute punishment.” Burke, 940 F.2d at 1367, citing United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 442, 109 S.Ct. 1892, 1898, 104 L.Ed.2d 487 (1989).

The OCC charged defendants with participating in a plan to have banks with which they were associated make nominee loans to nominal borrowers in a manner which allowed defendants to receive the benefit of the loans. The OCC asserted that this resulted in violations of the statutory restrictions regarding lending limits, those concerning loans to officers, directors or other controlling persons of banks, and the statutes requiring accurate recordation of loans on the books of national banks. The monetary sanctions were imposed by the OCC pursuant to the authority granted by 12 U.S.C. § 93(b) and 504, as well as 12 U.S.C. §§ 84 and 375a and 375b. In the indictment at issue, defendants are charged with, inter alia, violations of 18 U.S.C. § 656, which prohibits misapplication of bank funds. The government concedes that the violations which were the subject of the Consent Order and those charged in the indictment are based on the same loan transactions. However, the government argues that different statutes are involved and, accordingly, different offenses are at issue for double jeopardy purposes. Defendants argue that, if the OCC proved the allegations which were the *1115 subject of a Consent Order, that same proof would also establish a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656, the statute charged in the indictment.

A review of the evidence establishes that, for double jeopardy purposes, the Consent Order and the indictment involve the same conduct. As defendants correctly note, a violation of the statutes under which the OCC proceeded in the Consent Order necessarily encompasses a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 656. United States v. Twiford, 600 F.2d 1339, 1343-14 (10th Cir.1979). See also United States v. Davis, 953 F.2d 1482, 1492 (10th Cir.1992). The broad range of conduct prohibited by 12 U.S.C. § 93(b) and § 504 necessarily encompasses the conduct which is the subject of 18 U.S.C. § 656. Furthermore, the same loan transactions are the subject of both the indictment and the Consent Order. As a result, this case is distinguishable from Burke, where the court determined double jeopardy was not violated because a cease and desist order addressed conduct occurring at a time different from that at issue in the challenged indictment. 940 F.2d at 1367.

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879 F. Supp. 1113, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20357, 1994 WL 776321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hudson-okwd-1994.