United States v. Roy William Harris, Also Known as "Will Harris,"

79 F.3d 223, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 3259
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedFebruary 28, 1996
Docket117, Docket 94-1707
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 79 F.3d 223 (United States v. Roy William Harris, Also Known as "Will Harris,") is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Roy William Harris, Also Known as "Will Harris,", 79 F.3d 223, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 3259 (2d Cir. 1996).

Opinion

MINER, Circuit Judge:

On September 9, 1992, a 24-count superseding indictment was filed charging defendant-appellant Roy William Harris with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, bank fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344, money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2), conducting a continuing financial crimes enterprise (“CFCE”) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 225, and making a false statement on a loan application in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014. The government also sought the forfeiture of Harris’ assets pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 982. Prior to trial, Harris moved to dismiss certain counts of the indictment and to sever Count 23, which charged him with making a false statement on a loan application. The district court granted Harris’ motion to sever Count 23, but denied his motion to dismiss those counts charging him with wire fraud, bank fraud, and engaging in a continuing financial crimes enterprise. United States v. Harris, 805 F.Supp. 166 (S.D.N.Y.1992). On December 14, 1992, a jury found Harris guilty on all counts tried. On the same day, Harris and the government entered into a stipulation settling the forfeiture count.

On March 26, 1993, Harris filed motions for a judgment of acquittal, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29, and for a new trial, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 33, raising many of the same claims he now raises on appeal. On July 30, 1993, the district court denied Harris’ motions in their entirety. United States v. Harris, No. S1 92 Cr. 455 (CSH), 1993 WL 300052 (S.D.N.Y. July 30, 1993). On December 22, 1994, the district court sentenced Harris to a 188-month term of imprisonment, a five-year term of supervised release, and a special assessment of $1100. The district court also ordered Harris to pay $200 million in restitution.

On this appeal, Harris contends that the district court erred in: (1) failing to instruct the jury, in relation to the CFCE violation, that it must find that his conduct occurred after the CFCE statute was enacted; (2) rejecting his claim that he was wrongly convicted for money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2); (3) rejecting his contention that his bank fraud convictions were multipliei-tous and thus violated the Fifth Amendment; (4) imposing a $200 million restitution order in favor of the lending banks; (5) rejecting his argument that he was wrongly convicted for a CFCE violation because the statute was not meant to apply to his conduct; (6) denying his motion for a new trial because new evidence was discovered that would have led to his acquittal; and (7) declining to depart downward from the United States Sentencing Guidelines on the basis that he had a gambling disorder. For the following reasons, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Harris was the president, chief executive officer, and majority shareholder of Arochem *226 Corporation (“Arochem”) and Arochem International, Inc. (“International”) (together, the “Arochem Companies” or “Companies”). International operated a petroleum and petrochemical refinery complex in Puerto Rico, while Arochem, which maintained its principal offices in Connecticut, traded in petroleum and petroleum products and provided management services to International. These management services included supervising the inventory and trading activities of International and marketing petrochemicals and petroleum products.

Vincent J. Dispenza was the Arochem Companies’ chief financial officer. Dean Seniff, the Companies’ comptroller, and Greg Holtzhauer, the Companies’ accounting manager, also were involved in financial matters. Other Arochem Companies officers included Gene Sebastian, the Companies’ executive vice president, and Joe Sheperd, the Companies’ vice president of operations.

In January of 1990, a consortium of banks led by Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. (the “banks”) entered into a revolving credit agreement (the “agreement”) with the Aro-chem Companies. The agreement expired in January of 1991, and was extended on six separate occasions through November 30, 1991. Under the terms of the agreement, the Companies were permitted to borrow up to $245 million as needed for their business operations. The loans covered by the agreement were to be secured by the Companies’ inventory of petroleum and petroleum products and by the Compames’ receivables and cash. The agreement included financial covenants that required the Companies to maintain minimum levels of working capital, net worth, and debt ratios, and precluded them from holding a net unhedged position of more than one million barrels of oil. If the Companies violated any of these covenants, the banks could either charge a “penalty” for the violation or demand immediate repayment of the loans. Finally, the agreement required the Arochem Companies to provide the banks with periodic reports known as “borrowing base reports,” which listed all of the Companies’ assets and trading positions.

A The Companies’ Fraudulent Practices

In the fall of 1989, the Arochem Companies began to suffer financial difficulties that continued through the beginning of 1990. At a meeting of the Companies’ officers in March or April of 1990, Seniff informed Harris, Dispenza, Sebastian, and Sheperd that the Arochem Companies had a year-to-date deficit of approximately $60 to $65 million. In addition, Seniff and Dispenza informed the other officers that they would be falsifying the Companies’ financial statements by overvaluing the Companies’ crude oil inventory-

Also discussed at this meeting-was the upcoming Ernst & Young year-end audit of the Companies’ books. It was understood by the Companies’ officers that unless the Companies earned “$40 or so million dollars” by the end of the fiscal year, May 31, 1990, the Companies would not pass the audit. Dis-penza claims that Harris then directed Shep-erd and him to become more “creative” in assisting in the preparation of the financial statements.

In late April or early May of 1990, Harris, Dispenza, and Seniff devised a strategy for the approaching audit. It was determined that, in order to conceal the Companies’ $60 to $65 million loss, Dispenza would falsify and exaggerate the value of the Companies’ assets. As part of the scheme to disguise the Companies’ losses, according to Dispenza, Harris provided Dispenza with an inventory contract for the purchase of two cargoes of crude oil from a company called Trieast Marketing (“Trieast”).

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Bluebook (online)
79 F.3d 223, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 3259, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-roy-william-harris-also-known-as-will-harris-ca2-1996.