United States v. Jocelyn Javan

383 F. App'x 596
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 10, 2010
Docket09-50107
StatusUnpublished

This text of 383 F. App'x 596 (United States v. Jocelyn Javan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Jocelyn Javan, 383 F. App'x 596 (9th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ***

Appellant Jocelyn Espino Javan appeals her conviction and sentence for four counts of health care fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1347 and one count of making a materially false statement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we AFFIRM.

*599 I.

We first reject Javan’s argument that the Government failed to present sufficient evidence to support her convictions. We review the sufficiency of the evidence underlying a conviction de novo. United States v. Odom, 329 F.3d 1032, 1034 (9th Cir.2003). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and affirm if “any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

The Government presented evidence sufficient for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Javan “knowingly and willfully” intended to defraud health insurers, see 18 U.S.C. § 1347, including evidence that Javan knew Valley Medical Center (“VMC”) would not charge patients a co-payment or deductible, assisted patients in signing multiple blank insurance billing forms, and knew that patients’ insurers were billed thousands of dollars for medical procedures they never received. The Government also presented evidence sufficient for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the VMC scheme affected interstate commerce, including evidence that defrauded insurer Blue Shield of California provided insurance to federal employees through participation in the Federal Employees Benefit Plan located in Washington, D.C., and that defrauded insurer CIGNA had its principal place of business in Pennsylvania and processed several VMC claims from Texas. Finally, the Government presented evidence sufficient for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Javan made a “materially” false statement to FBI Agent Murdoch, see 18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2), because her statement had the potential to affect the FBI’s investigation, United States v. Somsamouth, 352 F.3d 1271, 1276 (9th Cir.2003), including evidence that Javan’s lie bought her time to inform VMC of the FBI’s investigation before the FBI could obtain a search warrant to seize VMC’s records.

II.

We next reject Javan’s argument that the district court committed plain eviden-tiary errors. “Under a plain error standard, relief is not warranted unless there is: (1) an error; (2) that was plain; and (3) that affected the defendant’s substantial rights. Even if these conditions are met, reversal is discretionary and will be granted only if the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States v. Tran, 568 F.3d 1156, 1163 (9th Cir.2009) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted).

The district court did not plainly err by allowing Agent Murdoch to testify about the use of fictitious business names in health care fraud. Contrary to Javan’s assertion that Murdoch’s testimony constituted “an opinion or inference as to whether the defendant did or did not have the mental state or condition constituting an element of the crime charged” in violation of Federal Rule of Evidence 704(b), Murdoch’s testimony did not refer to Javan and merely made a general point about why recruiters in insurance fraud schemes “sometimes use aliases, DBAs, and fictitious names.”

Nor did the district court plainly err by failing to exclude evidence about Javan’s link to Variel Golden Care under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. Evidence of a close and lucrative business relationship between Javan and Ray Shaolian, VMC’s owner and the alleged mastermind of the VMC scheme, was probative of Ja- *600 van’s guilt because it undermined Javan’s claim that she merely had an arms-length relationship with VMC.

III.

We also reject Javan’s argument that the district court committed reversible error when instructing the jury. Though the jury was erroneously instructed that it need not find that Javan knew her conduct was illegal, that error was hanpless because the jury was also instructed that in order to convict it had to find that Javan acted with “intent to deceive or cheat” health insurers. United States v. Awad, 551 F.3d 930, 940 (9th Cir.2009). Javan cannot credibly assert that she did not know it was illegal to defraud health insurers. Id. at 941 (stating that “billing] for services not rendered—in common parlance, theft,” is a scheme “so bold and simple that no reasonable person could have thought it lawful”).

Nor did the district court err by issuing Instruction No. 28. Contrary to Javan’s characterization of this instruction, it does not instruct the jury that Javan broke the law simply by working as a paid patient recruiter or invite the jury to convict on that basis. Instead, the instruction specifically notes that Javan has not been charged with violation of any law prohibiting patient recruiting and instructs the jury that patient recruiting alone cannot support a conviction for health care fraud.

IV.

Finally, we reject Javan’s argument that the district court erred at sentencing. We review for clear error both “[a] factual finding that a defendant obstructed justice,” United States v. Garro, 517 F.3d 1163, 1171 (9th Cir.2008), and “the district court’s determination of the amount of loss attributable to a defendant for sentencing,” United States v. Peyton, 353 F.3d 1080, 1089 (9th Cir.2003), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Contreras, 593 F.3d 1135, 1136 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc) (per curiam). We review a restitution order for abuse of discretion, United States v. Riley, 335 F.3d 919

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
United States v. Richard Lee Mills
991 F.2d 609 (Ninth Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Deshon Rene Odom
329 F.3d 1032 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Conrad Foreman
329 F.3d 1037 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Michael A. Riley
335 F.3d 919 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Kaykeo Somsamouth
352 F.3d 1271 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Fatima Peyton
353 F.3d 1080 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Carty
520 F.3d 984 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Contreras
593 F.3d 1135 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Awad
551 F.3d 930 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Tran
568 F.3d 1156 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Garro
517 F.3d 1163 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
383 F. App'x 596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jocelyn-javan-ca9-2010.