United States v. Joseph R. Koller

956 F.2d 1408, 1992 WL 39213
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedApril 22, 1992
Docket90-3787
StatusPublished
Cited by125 cases

This text of 956 F.2d 1408 (United States v. Joseph R. Koller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Joseph R. Koller, 956 F.2d 1408, 1992 WL 39213 (7th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

FAIRCHILD, Senior Circuit Judge.

A jury found Joseph Koller guilty of conspiring to distribute cocaine, distributing cocaine, possessing in excess of 500 grams of cocaine with the intent to distribute, money laundering, and possession of an interstate firearm as a convicted felon. Judge Evans, Eastern District of Wisconsin, sentenced him to 20 years on each of five counts and 27 years on each of three counts, all to be served concurrently. Kol-ler appeals.

Shia Ben-Hur testified that he had sold cocaine to Koller on twenty-one occasions in 1987 and 1988. Koller resold some of this cocaine to Arlyn Ackley who sold it to an undercover agent on four occasions. Those sales formed the basis for Counts TWO through FIVE of the indictment charging violations of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Ben-Hur was arrested for an unrelated cocaine sale in September 1988. Ben-Hur agreed to cooperate with the government in its investigation of several suspected drug traffickers, including Koller. Ben-Hur participated in a government controlled sale of 512 grams of cocaine to Koller, resulting in Count SIX of the indictment and an additional violation of § 841(a)(1). Koller was also charged with (Count ONE) and convicted of conspiring to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Counts ONE and SIX involved more than 500 grams of cocaine. Koller was convicted on Count SEVEN, money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(l)(B)(i), and on Count EIGHT, possession of an interstate firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).

On this appeal Koller challenges various aspects of his conviction and sentence. Each argument will be addressed separately and any facts particularly relevant to that argument will be set out in the discussion.

I. MONEY LAUNDERING

Koller challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the money laundering conviction on count SEVEN. In April, 1988, Koller’s girl friend, Jane Vossekuil, was taken into state custody for violation of her probation, because she had not paid her restitution obligation. She was told that her probation would be revoked unless she paid. Jane called Koller and asked him if he would pay it. He agreed and indicated that he would get some of the money from outstanding drug debts. After gathering the money, Koller went to the probation office and attempted to pay Jane’s restitution obligation with over $2000 in cash. The probation officer, Ms. Ware, would not accept that amount of cash and told Koller that he needed to get a money order. Koller then took the cash to nearby Security Bank and purchased a money order. He told the teller that he needed the money in order to get his girl friend out of jail. There was no evidence that he was asked his name or that he made any misrepresentation to the bank. Koller returned to the probation office with the *1411 money order and used it to pay Jane’s restitution obligation. Ms. Ware wrote out a receipt for the payment to “Gerald Koh-ler.” Although Ms. Ware did not testify specifically that he told her his name was Gerald, she testified that she asked him how to spell his name or that she asked him how to spell “Gerald” and that he spelled it. She was unsure whether she confirmed the spelling of his last name. On cross examination she said that that was the only time he told her his name. A rational juror could infer from her testimony and the name on the receipt that Roller told her his first name was “Gerald” and could also infer that in doing so it was his design to conceal and disguise his identity as the owner of the money order and the funds it represented. 1

Congress enacted the Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-570, § 1352, 100 Stat. 3207-18 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1956), to make money laundering a crime and, thus, prevent drug traffickers from enjoying the profits of their crime. S.Rep. No. 433, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 4 (1986). Senator Biden emphasized, upon introduction of the Senate Bill, that “[d]rug traffickers need money laundering to conceal the billions of dollars in cash generated annually in drug sales and to convert his [sic] cash into manageable form.” Id. Section 1956(a)(l)(B)(i) makes it a crime to conduct a financial transaction knowing that the property involved in the transaction represents the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity and knowing that the transaction is designed in whole or in part to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of those proceeds.

There was a conflict in the evidence as to the source of the funds represented by the money order. Jane Vossekuil testified that Roller told her he was going to use the proceeds of his drug dealing, and there was evidence of such dealings. On the other hand, Ms. Vossekuil, Roller and others testified that he had borrowed the funds. Roller seems to argue that this was insufficient support for a verdict that the money originated from drug dealing, although he also seems to concede that the jury could disbelieve his witnesses. We think the jury could properly resolve this conflict against Roller.

Roller also argues that his payment of Ms. Vossekuil’s obligation was not an offense because in a “classic” money laundering case the transaction is designed to hide the tainted money by converting it into something valuable which will provide a benefit for the money launderer. Here Roller obtained only Ms. Vossekuil’s gratitude or perhaps her contractual obligation to repay the money.

It is true that one court has, in overturning money laundering convictions, considered whether the transaction could be described as a typical money laundering transaction, rejecting the argument that “the money laundering statute should be interpreted to broadly encompass all transactions, however ordinary on their face, which involve the proceeds of unlawful activity.” United States v. Sanders, 928 F.2d 940, 946 (10th Cir.1991) (quoted in United States v. Jackson, 935 F.2d 832, 841 (7th Cir.1991). Sanders can readily be distinguished, and in Jackson, this court affirmed the conviction. We do not think the argument can be successful here. Even if Roller was making an outright gift to Ms. Vossekuil, a “transaction” is defined in this statute as including a gift. 18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(3) (1988).

There are two transactions in this case, the purchase of the money order and the transfer of the money order to the probation officer in payment of Ms. Vossekuil’s obligation. Because it is so clear that the purchase of the money order involved no concealment, we have considered, though not argued by Roller, whether that fact would prevent conviction for the second transaction.

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Bluebook (online)
956 F.2d 1408, 1992 WL 39213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-joseph-r-koller-ca7-1992.