United States v. Matthew G. Munksgard

913 F.3d 1327
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 2019
Docket16-17654
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 913 F.3d 1327 (United States v. Matthew G. Munksgard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Matthew G. Munksgard, 913 F.3d 1327 (11th Cir. 2019).

Opinions

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:

This criminal appeal presents both a surprisingly close question of evidentiary sufficiency-so close, in fact, that it has prompted a dissent-and an interesting statutory-interpretation issue. As to the former, federal law criminalizes the act of knowingly making a false statement in order to obtain a loan from a bank that is insured by the FDIC. 18 U.S.C. § 1014. Matthew Munksgard admits to knowingly making false statements in order to obtain bank loans-indeed, four times over. Even so, he contends, the government failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt, as it had to, that the institution he swindled was FDIC-insured. This case presents the (irritatingly familiar) question whether the government presented sufficient evidence to prove that pesky jurisdictional prerequisite. The proof of FDIC insurance here-as in other cases in which we have rapped the government's knuckles-was hardly overwhelming. And given the ease with which insurance coverage could have been demonstrated-certificate, contract, cancelled check, etc.-inexplicably so. Having said that, "overwhelming" isn't the standard, and when we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, as we must, see United States v. Frank , 599 F.3d 1221, 1233 (11th Cir. 2010), we conclude-albeit reluctantly-that the proof was adequate to demonstrate Munksgard's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. But let this be a warning to federal prosecutors: You are (as the author's mother used to say) cruisin' for a bruisin'. Don't apologize-do better.

Now, the statutory-interpretation issue: Federal law makes it a crime for any person to "use[ ], without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person." 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1). The jury here found that Munksgard violated this statute when, in an effort to obtain financing *1330to support his land-surveying business, he forged another person's name to a surveying contract that he submitted to a bank in support of his loan application. The question before us is whether Munksgard's conduct qualifies as a prohibited "use[ ]" within the meaning of § 1028A(a)(1). Munksgard insists that we should cabin the meaning of "use[ ]" to crimes in which the accused attempted to impersonate, or act "on behalf of," someone else. We disagree. Plain meaning, statutory context, and existing precedent all show that Munksgard "use[d]" his victim's means of identification when he employed that person's signature to obtain the loan and thereby converted the signature to his own service.

I

Matthew Munksgard began banking with Drummond Community Bank in the late 1990s. Drummond is a relatively small bank; at the time of trial, it operated in only a few counties in west central Florida. Munksgard obtained his first drawdown line of credit from Drummond in 2010 to fund his work as a land surveyor. After repaying that loan without incident, in 2012 Munksgard obtained two more drawdown lines. He also repaid those loans, albeit once from a different source of funds than he had indicated in his loan application.

That's when the real trouble started. The next year, Munksgard applied for yet another line of credit from Drummond, this time supported by a surveying contract with a company called Cal-Maine Foods. That contract showed the signature of Cal-Maine employee Kyle Morris. Munksgard now admits that the contract was fraudulent and that he signed Morris's name to it without Morris's knowledge or permission.

Munksgard obtained three more lines of credit from Drummond over the next two years. He supported a 2013 credit application with a contract with Maxwell Plum Creek signed, on Plum Creek's behalf, by an "S. Riggins." Plum Creek had no knowledge of the contract, and "S. Riggins" didn't exist. Munksgard's third and fourth credit applications, both in 2014, followed a similar pattern. To support them, Munksgard submitted contracts with St. Johns River Water Management and Triple Bell Farms. Both contracts were fraudulent, and both were signed by fictional employees-"Ross Rawlings" for St. Johns River and "Jason Hanold" for Triple Bell.

Three years and four unpaid loans in, Drummond started asking questions and ultimately contacted the FBI. A grand jury later indicted Munksgard on four counts of knowingly making a false statement in order to obtain a loan from an FDIC-insured bank, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014, and one count of aggravated identity theft for his placement of Kyle Morris's signature on the Cal-Maine Foods contract, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A.

At trial, the government presented three pieces of evidence to prove that Drummond was FDIC-insured when Munksgard submitted the fraudulent materials: (1) a certification indicating that the bank's deposits were insured when it was initially chartered in 1990; (2) testimony from a veteran bank employee, David Claussen, that Drummond was currently (i.e. , in 2016) FDIC-insured; and (3) Claussen's further testimony that the bank isn't required to "renew[ ]" its FDIC certificate "every so often."

The jury convicted Munksgard on all five counts. The district court sentenced Munksgard to six months in prison for the fraudulent credit applications and to a consecutive 24 months for aggravated identity theft.

*1331II

We begin with Munksgard's bank-fraud conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1014. Section 1014 prescribes stiff penalties for anyone who "knowingly makes any false statement ... for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of any institution the accounts of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation." 18 U.S.C. § 1014. For purposes of appeal, all agree that Munksgard (1) knowingly (2) made false statements (3) in order to obtain financing from Drummond Community Bank. That gets the government three-quarters of the way home. Munksgard contends, though, that the government didn't quite finish the job-in particular, he says, it failed to present sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Drummond was FDIC-insured at the time he submitted the fraudulent loan applications.

We've seen this play before-part comedy, part tragedy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
913 F.3d 1327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-matthew-g-munksgard-ca11-2019.