United States v. Kamal J. James

712 F. App'x 154
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit·Decided September 26, 2017·No. 15-1654, 16-2197·Unpublished·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION *

GREENAWAY, JR., Circuit Judge.

I. Introduction

Appellants Crystal Hawkins and Kamal James were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to defraud the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 286; filing false, fraudulent or fictitious claims, 18 U.S.C. § 287; and mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341, in connection with a- scheme to file tax returns for formerly incarceratéd individuals based on invented earnings. Following trial, further proceedings were necessary to calculate the total loss amount, not all of which had been proved at trial. Fourteen months after they were convicted, Appellants were sentenced based on an intended loss of more than $3.5 million. They now appeal, arguing that a good faith instruction to the jury was required, that the court relied on faulty data in reaching its loss calculation, and that their right to be sentenced in a timely manner was violated (James, acting pro se, adds various additional claims). We address each argument in turn and in each instance, will affirm.

II. Background

Appellants operated a business, Release Refunds, which prepared tax returns for former inmates, generally those previously released from New Jersey prisons. Their model was to help file fraudulent returns for taxes paid in connection with, their prison employment.

Appellants solicited their clients through word of mouth and by advertising at New Jersey halfway houses. The clients were instructed to provide Release Refunds with their names, identifying information, the dates they were in prison, and their jobs in prison. Release Refunds then sent the client a blank tax return, filled with their name, address and prison job, to be signed, but not dated. The clients never provided information about their actual earnings, hours worked, or withholding amounts. Rather, Appellants would fill in the signed blank tax return with an income amount — based on the faulty premise that inmates earned the minimum wage — and a claim for a refund, then submit the form to the IRS. Appellants would also send their clients substitute W-2 forms which listed wages and withholdings from the period of incarceration; the numbers on these forms were also put forward by Appellants without information from the clients. Appellant Hawkins, a certified tax preparer, was listed as the tax preparer on the forms. As its fee, Release Refunds claimed 25 percent of the refund.

At trial, witnesses testified about 16 refunds filed through Release Refunds, adding up to over $30,000 in losses. In each case, the taxpayer was forced to repay their refund to the IRS, including the fee paid to Release Refunds. One return described at trial was made under a false identity created by investigators at the IRS and the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

Appellants’ primary defense at trial was that they mistakenly, but in good faith, believed that their returns were accurate. For example, Hawkins testified that they were never notified by the IRS that the returns they filed were frivolous, and indeed that they stopped filing returns once clients told them that returns had been held as frivolous. The jury returned a guilty verdict on all counts on February 6, 2015.

After trial, the government attempted to establish the full extent of the losses generated by this scheme, which it estimated at over $4 million. The Probation Office was delayed in preparing its presentence report, the first draft of which was disclosed on August 19, 2015, and the final version on October 9. The presentence report was based, in part, on a Government spreadsheet cataloguing each of the returns on which a loss calculation would be based. A sentencing hearing was initially scheduled for October 20, but Hawkins sought discovery of the documents underlying 206 of the returns included in the initial loss calculations. The Government agreed to produce the records, but warned Hawkins that the process might take some time. Those documents were only partly produced by the initial court deadline of November 20, 2015, requiring the further postponement of the scheduled sentencing hearing.

During this period, the Government revised its spreadsheet, eliminating 74 of the returns in which discovery had been ordered and revising figures for some others. A revised spreadsheet was submitted in March 2016, shortly before the sentencing hearing began, which estimated, among other things, a lower restitution figure. The second day of the hearing was then delayed until April 14, 2016, due to the 'District Judge’s illness.

At the hearing, the Government offered testimony from an IRS employee. She explained the IRS process for determining which returns were part of the scheme, which involved collecting all returns associated with Appellants’ preparer tax identification number, IP addresses, residential address, or bank account. The Government also introduced the revised spreadsheets cataloguing each of the identified returns. - The Court credited the Government’s witness, despite Appellants’ cross-examination.

In reaching its Guidelines calculation, the District Court found that the Government showed an intended loss “based' on” the $4.2 million number included in the spreadsheet, but concluded that it did not need to provide a “precisely accurate number” for the loss amount., JA 1863. The Court reasoned that “there’s no way that any of the evidence, including the issues that were brought forward by Ms. Hawkins, give rise-to a level of’ error that would bring the loss amount below $3,5 million, where the relevant Guidelines range began. JA 1863. However, the Court also granted a downward variance of two levels because it felt that the Guidelines process over-stated the actual amount of loss. James was sentenced-to a term of 96 months’ imprisonment, and Hawkins to 48 months’ imprisonment. Each was also ordered to pay over $570,000 in restitution.

III. Good Faith Jury Instruction

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United States v. Kamal J. James, 712 F. App'x 154 (3d Cir. 2017).

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