United States v. John Crim

451 F. App'x 196
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedNovember 15, 2011
Docket08-3028, 08-3931, 08-4077, 08-4316
StatusUnpublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 451 F. App'x 196 (United States v. John Crim) 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. John Crim, 451 F. App'x 196 (3d Cir. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

NYGAARD, Circuit Judge.

Appellant John Michael Crim co-founded a group known as the Commonwealth Trust Company (CTC). This firm counseled and encouraged investors to, among other things, place income and assets into trusts so as to evade federal income taxes. A grand jury indicted Crim, along with Appellants John Brownlee, Constance Taylor and Anthony Trimble, with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, 1 Appellants Crim, Brownlee and Taylor additionally were charged with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the Internal Revenue law, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a). Appellants Taylor and Trimble were charged with a second count of violating this section.

I. Background

Because we write primarily for the parties, who are well-acquainted with the lengthy and complex history of this case, we will relate only those facts necessary to address the issues on appeal. CTC marketed two domestic trusts and one offshore trust to its clients. Based on instructions provided by CTC, many of the firm’s clients did not file federal tax returns. CTC advised its clients that they could escape paying federal income taxes by diverting their income through one of CTC’s trusts. The firm also advocated transferring a client’s assets into one of CTC’s domestic trusts to protect the assets from IRS liens and seizures.

Crim and co-defendants Brownlee, Taylor and Trimble were convicted by a jury on all counts after a jury trial. All were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and ordered to pay differing amounts of restitution to the IRS. Raising various issues both jointly and individually, Crim, Brownlee, Taylor and Trimble appeal their convictions and sentences. By order of March 10, 2009, we consolidated their appeals. 2

*201 The bulk of the issues raised by the Appellants concern the propriety of their convictions. We will begin with the various challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence Challenges

A. Sufficiency of the Evidence of Appellant Crim’s conviction

Our inquiry is limited to determining whether the jury’s verdict is permissible. See United States v. McGill, 964 F.2d 222, 229 (3d Cir.1992). Appellant Crim argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction at Count II for corruptly endeavoring to impede the due administration of IRS laws at a training seminar hosted by CTC in May of 2002 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We disagree.

Section 7212(a) provides, in part, that “[w]hoever corruptly or by force or threats of force ... obstructs or impedes, or endeavors to obstruct or impede, the due administration of this title, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both.To prove a violation of § 7212(a), the Government must establish (1) corruption, force, or threat of force, and (2) an attempt to obstruct the administration of the IRS. Here, the Government’s evidence is more than sufficient to permit the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Crim violated 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a).

With respect to the first element of the offense, the Government charged Crim with corruptly attempting to interfere with the administration of the IRS. An act is “corrupt” within the meaning of Section 7212 if it is performed with the intention to secure an unlawful benefit for oneself or for another. See, e.g., United States v. Reeves, 752 F.2d 995, 998-99 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 834, 106 S.Ct. 107, 88 L.Ed.2d 87 (1985). We note that Crim does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence against him at Count One. Therefore, Crim’s recognition that the evidence was sufficient to prove that CTC was an illegal conspiracy to promote tax evasion more than establishes Crim’s state of mind for the first element of a Section 7212(a) violation, which rests on the promotion of CTC to others.

The evidence presented at trial clearly supports the second element of the offense. The Government’s evidence demonstrated, among other things, that Crim spoke and made welcoming remarks at the CTC tax evasion seminar and was present at the Lancaster session to promote and encourage CTC and its sales force. Given this evidence, the jury’s verdict was permissible and we will affirm Crim’s conviction at Count Two of the indictment.

B. Sufficiency of the Evidence of Appellant Brownlee’s Conviction

Appellant Brownlee argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction at Count One of the indictment. He argues that there was no evidence of a shared unity of purpose or common goal between him and the other conspirators. He also argues that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence. We disagree.

The Government presented sufficient evidence to support Brownlee’s conviction at Count One. To prove a conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 (Count 1), the evidence must establish the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) an agreement to defraud the United States, (2) an overt act by one of the conspirators in furtherance of that objective, and (3) any conspirator’s commission of at least one overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. See United *202 States v. Rankin, 870 F.2d 109, 113 (3d Cir.1989). “To conspire to defraud the United States means primarily to cheat the government out of property or money, but also means to interfere with or obstruct the government by deceit, craft, trickery, or at least by means that are dishonest.” Hammerschmidt v. United States, 265 U.S. 182, 188, 44 S.Ct. 511, 68 L.Ed. 968 (1924).

The Government established that Brownlee warned clients about all-expenses paid vacations to “Club Fed” if they did not shred, burn, and separate their garbage.

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Related

John Crim v. Cmsnr. IRS
66 F.4th 999 (D.C. Circuit, 2023)
John M. Crim
U.S. Tax Court, 2021
United States v. Tiangco
225 F. Supp. 3d 274 (D. New Jersey, 2016)
United States v. Williamson
746 F.3d 987 (Tenth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Trimble
12 F. Supp. 3d 742 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 2014)
United States v. John Crim
553 F. App'x 170 (Third Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Constance Taylor
550 F. App'x 135 (Third Circuit, 2014)

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Bluebook (online)
451 F. App'x 196, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-crim-ca3-2011.