United States v. Scott

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided November 19, 1998·No. 19-70017·Published

Opinion

REVISED, November 19, 1998

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS For the Fifth Circuit

No. 96-21045

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

VERSUS

WILLIAM T SCOTT; LINDA D SCOTT; RALPH BEN-SCHOTER,

Defendants - Appellants.

Appeals from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Texas October 29, 1998

Before REAVLEY, DAVIS, and DUHÉ, Circuit Judges

JOHN M. DUHÉ, JR., Circuit Judge:

A jury found Defendants-Appellants William T. Scott (“Mr. Scott”), Linda D. Scott (“Mrs.

Scott”), and Ralph Ben-Schoter (“Ben-Schoter”) guilty of one count of conspiracy (18 U.S.C.A. §

371), three counts of transferring false obligations of the United States (18 U.S.C.A. § 473), one

count of bank fraud (18 U.S.C.A. § 1344), two counts of wire fraud (18 U.S.C.A. § 1343), and one

count of interstate transportation of stolen money (18 U.S.C.A. § 2314). Additionally, the jury found

Ben-Schoter guilty of six counts of money laundering (18 U.S.C.A. § 1956). On this direct appeal,

they challenge the sufficiency of evidence supporting their convictions for bank fraud and transferring

false obligations and the propriety of the district court’s instruction on deliberate ignorance. They

also argue the district court incorrectly calculated their sentences and improperly denied four

challenges for cause of prospective jurors. Finally, the Defendants assert they were denied effective

assistance of counsel. We reverse the Defendants’ convictions for transferring false obligations of the United States, affirm their remaining convictions and remand to the district court for resentencing.

I. BACKGROUND

The Defendants’ convictions arise from three “credit enhancement” transactions in which they

purported to lease United States Treasury Notes (“treasury notes”) owned by the Delmarva Timber

Trust (“Nevada Trust”) to borrowers enabling them to obtain large loans for various purposes. The

Defendants formed the Nevada Trust, of which Mrs. Scott was President and CEO and Mr. Scott and

Ben-Schoter were consultants, and created documents entitled “Registered Owner of Treasury Note

Certificates” (“Certificates”), which fraudulently reflected the Nevada Trust’s ownership of millions

of dollars in treasury notes. In reality, the Nevada Trust did not own any treasury notes. The Nevada

Trust would purport to lease the treasury notes to borrowers for a flat fee, and sometimes a

percentage of the development deal, to enhance the borrowers’ creditworthiness. The prospective

borrowers would receive the Certificates from the Nevada Trust and use them as collateral to secure

large loans.

All three transactions were real estate deals. In the first transaction, the Defendants, through

the Nevada Trust, leased the Certificates to Michael Douglass, who used them as collateral in

connection with the sale of a ranch owned by a trust benefitting a widow, Laverne Shiflett. After

Douglass defaulted on the $3,050,000 note he gave for the purchase price, Shiflett attempted to

foreclose on the treasury notes the Certificates had purportedly evidenced as collateral and failed.

In the second transaction, the Defendants, again through the Nevada Trust, leased the

Certificates to Richard Montgomery to enable him to receive a $6,000,000 loan from Citibank,

London, England to purchase an office building. Montgomery did not complete the sale because the

participants were arrested by Scotland Yard at the loan closing.

In the third transaction, the Defendants leased the Certificates in the same manner to Thomas

Brennan to enable him to obtain a loan to purchase landfills for New York City garbage. The loan

never closed because Brennan was unable to obtain financing with the Certificates.

2 The Secret Service unearthed the Defendants’ scheme through a thorough investigation.

Secret Service Agent Tim Gobble interviewed the Defendants on several occasions prior to their

indictment. During these interviews, the Defendants explained how they became involved with the

Nevada Trust and the Certificates. Ben-Schoter claimed he became involved through Don and Owen

Meddles. He explained he was a former trustee of another trust, the Delmarva Timber Trust

organized in Maryland (“Maryland Trust”), and that Don and Owen Meddles instructed him to form

the Nevada Trust to lease the Certificates. All of the Defendants asserted they relied on others in

believing that the Maryland Trust owned millions of dollars in assets and that the Maryland Trust had

granted the Nevada Trust permission to use the Certificates in these transactions.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Sufficiency of evidence

The Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions. The

standard of review for a sufficiency of evidence claim is whether, after viewing the evidence and the

reasonable inferences which flow therefrom in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier

of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See United

States v. Kindig, 854 F.2d 703, 706-07 (5th Cir. 1988); see also United States v. Mulderig, 120 F.3d

534, 546 (5th Cir. 1997). We review the evidence, whether direct or circumstantial, and all

reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the verdict. See United States

v. Salazar, 958 F.2d 1285, 1291 (5th Cir. 1992).

1. 18 U.S.C.A. § 473

The Defendants challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting their convictions for

3 transferring false obligations of the United States under § 473.1 They argue their convictions should

be reversed because the Certificates are not obligations or securities of the United States, the

Defendants never suggested to anyone that the Certificates were obligations or securities of the

United States, and none of the victims believed the Certificates were obligations or securities of the

United States. The government argues the Defendants intended to lead the victims to believe the

Certificates were issued or approved of by the United States government, and that, therefore, they

satisfy § 473.

A document is considered a counterfeit obligation or security of the United States if the

fraudulent obligation bears such a likeness or resemblance to any of the genuine obligations or

securities issued under the authority of the United States as is calculated to deceive an honest,

sensible and unsuspecting person of ordinary observation and care dealing with a person who is

supposed to be upright and honest. United States v. Turner, 586 F.2d 395, 397 (5th Cir. 1978)

(citing United States v. Smith, 318 F.2d 94, 95 (4th Cir. 1963)).

Section 473 expressly requires the involvement of an obligation or security of the United

States to support a conviction, rather than a document evidencing the ownership of that obligation

or security which is contained at another location.2 The Certificates do not say they were issued by

the United States, are not signed by a United States official, and do not bear an official seal of the

United States.

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