United States v. Goldberg ( 1997 )


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    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
    ____________________

    No. 96-1132

    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

    Appellee,

    v.

    RICHARD GOLDBERG,

    Defendant, Appellant.

    ____________________

    ERRATA SHEET

    At page 16, line 15, delete ", Michael Kendall," and at page 17,

    line 2, substitute "the prosecutor in question" for "Kendall".














































    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

    FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

    ____________________



    No. 96-1132



    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,



    Appellee,



    v.



    RICHARD GOLDBERG,



    Defendant, Appellant.



    ____________________



    APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT



    FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS



    [Hon. Douglas P. Woodlock, U.S. District Judge] ___________________



    ____________________

















    Before



    Boudin, Circuit Judge, _____________



    Bownes, Senior Circuit Judge, ____________________



    and Lynch, Circuit Judge. _____________



    ____________________



    Morris M. Goldings with whom David R. Kerrigan and Mahoney, ___________________ __________________ ________

    Hawkes & Goldings were on brief for appellant. _________________

    Michael Kendall, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom ________________

    Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, and Kevin J. Cloherty, ________________ ___________________

    Assistant United States Attorney, was on brief for the United States.





    ____________________



    February 3, 1997

    ____________________























    BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. Richard Goldberg was convicted _____________

    of two counts of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue

    Service, 18 U.S.C. 371, and eight counts of aiding and

    assisting the filing of false income tax returns, 26 U.S.C.

    7206(2). Goldberg's appeal is now before us. We begin by

    describing the factual background and proceedings in the

    district court.

    In the years prior to his indictment in 1995, Goldberg

    was involved in several businesses in and around Boston. His

    ventures included a billboard company, Logan Communications,

    and a partial interest in a "Park 'N Fly" lot located in East

    Boston near Logan Airport. Goldberg also owned and operated

    Liverpool Lumber, Inc., which Goldberg used as a management

    company for various of his other enterprises.

    In or around 1988, Goldberg became aware that the

    Commonwealth of Massachusetts planned to take all or part of

    the East Boston Park 'N Fly lot by eminent domain as part of

    its Third Harbor Tunnel project. The planned taking not only

    threatened Goldberg's profitable parking business, but also

    his billboard company, since many of its signs were located

    on the parking lot's land. Goldberg began an intense

    lobbying effort against the proposal in 1988, eventually

    spending over $1 million of his and his partners' money to

    oppose the tunnel plans.





    -2- -2-













    Two of those hired to oppose the project--community

    activist Robert A. Scopa and consultant Vernon Clark--were

    named as co-conspirators in the two separate conspiracies for

    which Goldberg was ultimately convicted. Taking the evidence

    most favorable to the verdict, the facts pertaining to the

    two different conspiracies were as follows.

    Scopa Conspiracy. From 1990 to 1995, Goldberg employed ________________

    Scopa to help organize the East Boston community against the

    tunnel project and to perform other services. But Goldberg

    never paid Scopa in Scopa's own name. Instead, Goldberg had

    his Liverpool Lumber company issue paychecks to three

    successive "straw" employees, none of whom worked for

    Goldberg and all of whom agreed to hand the money over to

    Scopa.

    To reflect the "wages" of the straw employees, Goldberg

    directed his bookkeeper at Liverpool Lumber to prepare

    various W-2, W-3, and W-4 reporting statements, which were

    then filed with the IRS. These documents falsely described

    wage payments to straws who had performed no work for

    Liverpool Lumber. The straws, in turn, falsely included the

    phantom wages from Liverpool on their own individual returns.

    Reporting the money on the straws' returns instead of Scopa's

    resulted in a loss of about $150 to the Internal Revenue

    Service.





    -3- -3-













    The government claimed at trial that the scheme was

    devised so that Scopa would seem to be unemployed and thus

    could continue to collect monthly benefits under a disability

    insurance policy. Evidence also indicated that Scopa sought

    to hide the payments in order to preserve his status as an

    "independent" activist in the East Boston community and to

    prevent an extramarital affair from being discovered by his

    wife. The district court later found that Scopa, but not

    Goldberg, was motivated by all of these objectives.

    Clark Conspiracy. In the course of opposing the Third ________________

    Harbor Tunnel project, Goldberg also retained Vernon Clark, a

    lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who performed various services

    to this end. Goldberg's companies owed Clark a substantial

    sum of money in 1991 for work performed in opposition to the

    tunnel project. Rather than pay the bill directly, the two

    men agreed with others to a more complicated method for

    Goldberg to discharge his debt to Clark.

    At the time, Clark was having a secret affair with a

    woman named Patricia McNally. The pair occasionally spent

    time in a Maine beach house of which McNally was part owner.

    Clark sought to fund an expansion of the beach house without

    his wife's knowledge. Goldberg agreed to pay the money he

    owed to Clark to a landscaping company owned by John Lango,

    McNally's brother-in-law, who would in turn construct the

    beach house expansion.



    -4- -4-













    Goldberg arranged for the preparation of two separate

    $10,000 invoices to Park 'N Fly from Lango, dated October 15,

    1991 and January 1, 1992, respectively. The invoices were

    ostensibly for landscaping services, although Lango performed

    no work for any of Goldberg's companies. The invoices were

    paid by Park 'N Fly. Lango testified at trial that the

    payments were structured in two installments so as to reduce

    his taxes on the transaction.

    The triangular flow of money and services involved the

    preparation and filing of several false tax documents. At

    Goldberg's direction, Park 'N Fly sent forms 1099-MISC, one

    for each $10,000 payment, to the IRS and to Lango. The forms

    falsely listed the payments as non-employee compensation to

    Lango. Lango in turn reported the payments as income on his

    own income tax returns in 1991 and 1992. Clark did not

    report the money. The foreseeable tax loss to the IRS based

    on this scheme was about $3,000.

    A federal grand jury indicted Goldberg on April 6, 1995

    for offenses relating to the above activities. The

    indictment charged Goldberg with two counts of conspiring to

    defraud the United States government, 18 U.S.C. 371,

    several counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false

    income tax returns, 26 U.S.C. 7206(2), and several counts

    of mail fraud based on his alleged efforts to conceal his





    -5- -5-













    employment of Scopa from the latter's disability insurer. 18

    U.S.C. 1341.

    After moving unsuccessfully to dismiss the indictment,

    Goldberg waived his right to a trial by jury. Goldberg's

    trial before the district judge took eight days, and on

    September 6, 1995, the court announced its findings. The

    court found Goldberg guilty of conspiring to defraud the

    government and of aiding and assisting in the preparation of

    false tax returns, but acquitted him on the mail fraud

    charges on the ground that his motive to help defraud the

    insurer had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

    At Goldberg's sentencing in December 1995, the district

    court made guideline calculations (described below) but then

    departed downward two levels and sentenced Goldberg at the

    bottom of the range. The result was a ten-month sentence--

    five months to be served in prison and five in community

    confinement--as well as three years of supervised release and

    a $20,000 fine. Goldberg now appeals, challenging his

    convictions and sentence.

    The most important and difficult issues on appeal relate

    to Goldberg's conviction for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. 371

    to defraud the IRS. This type of conspiracy is known as a

    Klein conspiracy, taking its name from an earlier case _____

    involving a complex scheme designed to escape taxes. United ______

    States v. Klein, 247 F.2d 908 (2d Cir. 1957). Goldberg ______ _____



    -6- -6-













    argues that the district court misunderstood the crime's

    "purpose" element and that the evidence did not support a

    conviction.

    The defraud clause of Section 371 criminalizes any

    conspiracy "to defraud the United States, or any agency

    thereof in any manner or for any purpose." 18 U.S.C. 371.

    Such conspiracies to defraud are not limited to those aiming

    to deprive the government of money or property, but include

    conspiracy to interfere with government functions. See, ____

    e.g., United States v. Tarvers, 833 F.2d 1068, 1075 (1st Cir. ____ _____________ _______

    1987). The crime with which Goldberg was charged, therefore,

    was that he conspired to interfere with the proper

    functioning of the IRS, through the filing of false tax

    documents.

    It is commonly said that in such a conspiracy the fraud

    has to be a purpose or object of the conspiracy, and not _______ ______

    merely a foreseeable consequence of the conspiratorial

    scheme. Dennis v. United States, 384 U.S. 855, 861 (1966); 1 ______ _____________

    Sand et al., Modern Federal Jury Instructions 19.02 (1990). ______ ________________________________

    Consider, for example, the case of a band of bank robbers.

    All know that the agreed-upon robbery will generate "income"

    that none of the robbers will report. Yet it would be

    straining to describe interference with the IRS as a purpose

    or object of the conspiracy. E.g., United States v. Vogt, ____ ______________ ____

    910 F.2d 1184, 1202 (4th Cir. 1990).



    -7- -7-













    This requirement of purpose accords generally with

    conspiracy doctrine, United States v. Alvarez, 610 F.2d 1250, _____________ _______

    1256 (5th Cir. 1980), but it is especially important under

    the defraud clause of section 371. There are not many

    financial crimes without some implications for false

    reporting in someone's tax filings, if not for tax liability

    itself. If section 371 embraced every foreseeable

    consequence of a conspiracy, many joint financial crimes

    having no other federal nexus--and perhaps many non-criminal

    acts as well--would automatically become federal conspiracies

    to defraud the IRS.

    The "purpose" requirement, however, is easier to state

    than to apply. The laundering of drug money, for example,

    normally involves the deliberate concealment of the money's

    origin. The primary purpose is almost always to avoid

    detection of the underlying crime; but can a jury also find

    an implied secondary objective to conceal income from the

    IRS? We have held, on specific facts, that a jury could draw

    such an inference and also find a violation of section 371.

    E.g., United States v. Cambara, 902 F.2d 144, 147 (1st Cir. ____ _____________ _______

    1990); Tarvers, 833 F.2d at 1075-76. _______

    Such cases are the source of Goldberg's first argument

    on this issue. He argues, inventively, that the conspirators

    either must have as their primary purpose the aim of

    frustrating the IRS or must be agreeing to undertake the



    -8- -8-













    conduct in question to conceal some other crime. An example

    of the first alternative (primary purpose) is Klein itself _____

    where a web of shell companies and deceptive arrangements was

    devised to evade taxes; the second alternative (concealment

    of crime) captures the money laundering precedents.

    This view of section 371 might explain a number of cases

    and create a barrier against overreaching by prosecutors.

    But it makes no doctrinal sense. A conspiracy can have

    multiple objects, Ingram v. United States, 360 U.S. 672, 679- ______ _____________

    80 (1959), and any agreed-upon object can be a purpose of the

    conspiracy and used to define its character. The central

    problem, which ought not be shirked, is to distinguish

    rationally between cases where interfering with government

    functions is a purpose and those where it is merely a __

    foreseeable effect of joint action taken for other reasons.

    This effort poses subtle problems in discriminating

    "purpose" from "knowledge" and in separating the objects of a

    conspiracy from its more remote consequences. Volumes could

    be written on these subjects but--for cases like ours--a more

    compact solution is at hand: where the conspirators have

    effectively agreed to falsify IRS documents to misstate or

    misattribute income, we think that (depending upon the

    circumstances) the factfinder may infer a purpose to defraud

    the government by interfering with IRS functions in the sense

    endorsed by the Supreme Court in Dennis. ______



    -9- -9-













    It may well be that the conspirators in this case had no

    subjective desire--primary or secondary--to throw sand in the __

    wheels of the IRS, let alone a subjective aim to reduce tax

    liability. Goldberg's argument on this point, with one

    qualification as to the Clark conspiracy, may be plausible.

    But filing a number of false tax documents misattributing

    income can interfere so clearly and proximately with IRS

    functions--or at least a factfinder could (but need not) so

    find--that we see no sharp distinction under section 371

    between a purpose to file such documents and a purpose to

    interfere.

    In permitting a factfinder to equate the two purposes,

    we leave untouched the general precept, namely, that mere

    collateral effects of jointly agreed-to activity, even if

    generally foreseeable, are not mechanically to be treated as

    an object of the conspiracy. This would be a different case

    if, without filing false tax documents, Goldberg had agreed

    with his partners to pay Jones under the table, knowing that

    Jones had no intention of reporting the money to the IRS. If

    the difference is in degree, then here the degree matters.

    This brings us to the evidentiary question raised by

    Goldberg which we rephrase to accord with our just-stated

    view of the law: does the evidence in this case show that

    Goldberg and at least one other conspirator shared a purpose

    to interfere with IRS functions by the filing of false income



    -10- -10-













    reports with the IRS? This question must be asked and

    answered separately as to each conspiracy, as Goldberg was

    convicted of two separate conspiracies under section 371 and

    each conviction involves a separate assessment.

    In each conspiracy, the illicit purpose that gives rise

    to section 371 violation must be shared by two or more

    conspirators. Although the government's brief stresses the

    evidence pertaining to Goldberg's own role and knowledge, a

    conspiracy to defraud requires at least two who share that

    aim. Innocent third parties may be the unwitting instruments

    of a conspiracy. But when it comes to characterizing the

    purposes or objects of the conspiracy, it is those that are

    shared by at least two co-conspirators that make up the

    illegal agreement between them. United States v. Krasovich, _____________ _________

    819 F.2d 253, 255 (9th Cir. 1987).

    Here, the district court found that a purpose of the

    conspirators, in each conspiracy, was to interfere with the

    IRS. As we have said, such a purpose can be inferred,

    depending upon the facts, where the very acts agreed to by

    the conspirators included the filing of false income-related

    tax documents. This purpose can fairly be imputed to

    Goldberg who arranged for the creation of several or more

    false tax documents in each scheme. The duration and

    complexity of the schemes, and Goldberg's own sophistication,

    add to the inference.



    -11- -11-













    There is no evidence that Goldberg discussed the filing

    of false tax documents with other conspirators. Yet we think

    that such conduct was an integral and self-evident part of

    each conspiracy, permitting the inference that other co-

    conspirators shared in that purpose. In the case of the

    Scopa conspiracy, false W-2s were given to the straws, who

    were participants in the scheme, over an extended period.

    Scopa himself signed a tax return with his wife, who was one

    of the straws, that incorporated a false W-2.

    As to the Clark conspiracy, Lango received the false

    form 1099s, and he in turn reported the false figures to the

    IRS. Indeed, Lango asked that the amount be divided so that

    it could be reported in two different years, testifying later

    that Clark had made the suggestion. This indicates a tax

    motive but, in addition, shows that both men knew that the

    filing of false tax documents was an integral part of the

    scheme, and both shared in this purpose with Goldberg. In

    sum, the evidence supports the trial court's findings of a

    common purpose to interfere with IRS functions.

    In addition to "the danger [of injustice] inherent in a

    criminal conspiracy charge," Dennis, 384 U.S. at 860, the ______

    defraud clause of section 371 has a special capacity for

    abuse because of the vagueness of the concept of interfering

    with a proper government function. For that reason, we have

    examined with special care both the concept and the evidence



    -12- -12-













    in this case. But having done so, we conclude that the

    conduct and purpose of the defendants, although markedly less

    sinister than in Klein, could properly be found to fall _____

    within the outer bounds of section 371.

    Goldberg next challenges the admission at trial of two

    out-of-court conversations between Lango and Clark, in which

    they discussed the false landscaping invoices and the

    solicitation of Goldberg's participation in the scheme.

    These statements were admitted, over Goldberg's objection at

    trial, pursuant to Fed. R. Evid. 801(d)(2)(E), which provides

    that "a statement by a co-conspirator of a party during the

    course and in furtherance of the conspiracy" is not

    considered hearsay.

    Goldberg does not dispute that Lango and Clark made the

    challenged statements during and in furtherance of the

    conspiracy, but he argues that the statements were not

    admissible against him because they were made before he

    joined. He relies heavily on our opinion in United States v. _____________

    Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20 (1st Cir. 1977), where we said that ____________

    "if it is more likely than not that the declarant and the

    defendant were members of a conspiracy when the hearsay

    statement was made, and that the statement was in furtherance

    of the conspiracy, the hearsay is admissible." Id. at 23. __

    Although this language has been cited with approval in a

    few later cases, e.g., United States v. McCarthy, 961 F.2d ____ _____________ ________



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    972, 976-77 (1st Cir. 1992), it conflicts with United States _____________

    v. Baines, 812 F.2d 41 (1st Cir. 1987). Baines expressed the ______ ______

    traditional notion that--insofar as hearsay is concerned--a

    late-joining conspirator takes the conspiracy as he finds it:

    "a conspiracy is like a train," and "when a party steps

    aboard, he is part of the crew, and assumes conspirator's

    responsibility for the existing freight . . . ." Id. at 42; ___

    accord United States v. Saccoccia, 58 F.3d 754, 778 (1st Cir. ______ _____________ _________

    1995).

    Frankly, the underlying co-conspirator exception to the

    hearsay rule makes little sense as a matter of evidence

    policy. No special guarantee of reliability attends such

    statements, save to the extent that they resemble

    declarations against interest. The exception derives from

    agency law, an analogy that is useful in some contexts but

    (as the Advisory Committee noted) is "at best a fiction"

    here. The most that can be said is that the co-conspirator

    exception to hearsay is of long standing and makes a

    difficult-to-detect crime easier to prove. United States v. _____________

    Gil, 604 F.2d 546, 549 (7th Cir. 1979). ___

    If starting afresh, one might argue that the narrow

    Petrozziello version of the exception should be preferred, if ____________

    only because it accords better with the companion rule

    imposing substantive liability for other crimes committed

    during the conspiracy; a co-conspirator is held liable for



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    foreseeable acts of others done in furtherance of the

    conspiracy but only if committed during the defendant's

    period of membership. United States v. O'Campo, 973 F.2d _____________ _______

    1015, 1021 (1st Cir. 1992). Symmetry is at least convenient.

    But we are not starting afresh. The broader Baines test ______

    describes the traditional approach, United States v. United _____________ ______

    States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 393 (1948), presumptively __________________

    adopted by the Federal Rules of Evidence. It is followed in

    most circuits. See 2 Saltzburg, et al., Federal Rules of ___ ______ _________________

    Evidence Manual 219-22 (5th ed. 1990) (collecting cases). ________________

    Most important, it is the test in most of our own recent

    cases, including Saccoccia, decided only 19 months ago.1 _________

    This panel is arguably not free, but is in any event not

    inclined, to depart from Saccoccia. _________

    Goldberg's next claim on appeal is based on his motion

    filed prior to trial asking the district court to dismiss the

    indictment on the ground of selective prosecution. The

    district court denied the motion without holding a full

    evidentiary hearing. Goldberg claims that he alleged facts

    sufficient to require a hearing on his complaint, and he now



    ____________________

    1See Saccoccia, 58 F.3d at 778; O'Campo, 973 F.2d at ___ _________ _______
    1023 n.5; United States v. Fields, 871 F.2d 188, 194 (1st ______________ ______
    Cir. 1989); United States v. Murphy, 852 F.2d 1, 8 (1st Cir. _____________ ______
    1988); United States v. Anguilo, 847 F.2d 956, 969 (1st Cir. _____________ _______
    1988); United States v. Reynolds, 828 F.2d 46, 47-48 (1st ______________ ________
    Cir. 1987); United States v. Cintolo, 818 F.2d 980, 997 (1st _____________ _______
    Cir. 1987).

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    asks this court to remand the case so that he may have such a

    hearing.

    The government is allowed "broad discretion" in deciding

    whom to prosecute, Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 607 _____ _____________

    (1985), but there are some limitations. It is said that the

    government may not base its decision to prosecute on an

    "unjustifiable standard," including the defendant's exercise

    of protected statutory and constitutional rights. Wayte, 470 _____

    U.S. at 608. Goldberg bases his selective prosecution claim

    on the theory that he was targeted by the government in

    response to his vigorous--and constitutionally protected--

    lobbying activities in opposition to the Third Harbor Tunnel

    project.

    In seeking an evidentiary hearing, a defendant need only

    allege "some facts (a) tending to show that he has been

    selectively prosecuted and (b) raising a reasonable doubt

    about the propriety of the prosecution's purpose." United ______

    States v. Saade, 652 F.2d 1126, 1135 (1st Cir. 1981). But ______ _____

    the court may refuse to grant a hearing if the government

    puts forward adequate "countervailing reasons" to refute the

    charge, id., and if the court is persuaded that the hearing ___

    will not be fruitful. Review on appeal is for abuse of

    discretion. United States v. Gary, 74 F.3d 304, 313 (1st ______________ ____

    Cir. 1996).





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    Here, Goldberg alleged that one of the prosecutors on

    the case made a comment to Goldberg's counsel during a

    preindictment meeting to the effect that Goldberg "should not

    have won" his fight with Frederick Salvucci, Massachusetts'

    secretary of transportation during the tunnel planning stage.

    Goldberg also claimed that the initials "D.D." on a

    prosecution file reflect the complicity in the investigation

    of David Davis, executive director of MassPort. Finally, he

    pointed to the fact that several of his co-conspirators in

    the two schemes, including Clark and Lango, were never

    indicted.

    The government filed several affidavits to rebut the

    claim. It denied that the prosecutor in question made the

    alleged statement to Goldberg's attorney. It explained that

    the initials "D.D." on the file that raised Goldberg's

    suspicion in fact referred not to David Davis but to Denise

    Doherty, an FBI agent assigned to the case. In another

    district court paper, the government described the origins of

    its investigation into Goldberg's activities and gave

    examples of other recent prosecutions for mail fraud and

    Klein conspiracies. _____

    The district court ultimately denied a hearing, saying

    that Goldberg's claims were "close to conclusory." We have

    reviewed the complete filings of both sides and the district

    court's explanation. What is involved is a judgment call--



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    tempered on appeal by the deferential standard of review--as

    to the force and specificity of the allegations, the strength

    of the response, and the likelihood that a hearing would be

    helpful. United States v. Lopez, 71 F.3d 954, 963-64 (1st _____________ _____

    Cir. 1995). Here, the district court did not abuse its

    discretion.

    The claim of selectivity was quite weak; the government

    largely explained its choice mainly to pursue Goldberg and

    Scopa. And the rather modest evidence of wrongful motive

    also melted away, leaving only a single dispute. As to this,

    four prosecutors denied under oath that the alleged remark

    had been made. But it is in any event too thin a reed to

    require an evidentiary hearing, given the lack of surrounding

    evidence to support a selective prosecution claim.

    Even less need be said about Goldberg's later new trial

    motion, whose summary denial is also cited as error. In

    substance Goldberg complained that the government did not

    follow its own internal rules for tax prosecutions or reveal

    to him information about this decision. The government's

    procedures do not create substantive rights, United States v. _____________

    Michaud, 860 F.2d 495, 499 (1st Cir. 1988), and there is no _______

    substantial basis for believing that the government withheld

    Brady material, Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), let _____ _____ ________

    alone that its actions were prejudicial.





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    Goldberg's last claim of error concerns his sentencing.

    In fixing the sentence, the district court enhanced

    Goldberg's base offense level of 10, by four levels--two

    levels for his role in the offense, U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(c), and

    two more levels for obstruction of justice, id. 3C1.1--to ___

    arrive at an adjusted offense level of 14. (All citations

    are to the November 1995 edition of the guidelines).

    However, the court departed downward two levels to 12 because

    it thought Goldberg's conduct was outside the "heartland"

    contemplated by the Klein conspiracy sentencing guideline. _____

    Id. 2T1.9. ___

    The district judge stated that although Goldberg's

    conduct "as a matter of law constitutes a Klein conspiracy, _____

    as a matter of sentencing law, it seems to me inappropriate

    to apply the Klein conspiracy guidelines." He chose to _____

    depart downward two levels because he thought the guideline

    section for aiding and assisting tax fraud, 2T1.4, with a

    base offense level of 8 (when the tax loss is $3,001 to

    $5,000), was more reflective of Goldberg's conduct than the

    Klein conspiracy guideline, 2T1.9, which has a base offense _____

    level of 10.2




    ____________________

    2The ten-month sentence--five months to be served in
    prison and five in community confinement--was the minimum end
    of the resulting guideline range of 12. U.S.S.G. ch. 5, pt.
    A (10-16 months at offense level 12).

    -19- -19-













    The government, sensibly in our view, has chosen not to

    pursue an appeal from the downward departure. But Goldberg,

    as is his right, challenges the district court's decision to

    impose a two-level enhancement for his managerial or

    supervisory role in the Scopa and Clark conspiracies. The

    applicable guideline calls for an increase if "the defendant

    was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in any

    criminal activity." U.S.S.G. 3B1.1(c). In such a case, a

    two-level increase applies to joint criminal activity that

    involved fewer than five participants and was not otherwise

    extensive. Id. ___

    Goldberg says that the only person he managed or

    supervised was his bookkeeper, Arlene Meucci. Meucci, he

    argues, does not count under the guideline because she was

    not a culpable participant. See United States v. Morillo, 8 ___ _____________ _______

    F.3d 864, 872 & n.13 (1st Cir. 1993); U.S.S.G. 3B1.1,

    comment n.1. However, at the sentencing hearing, the

    district court found that Goldberg "had a management role" in

    connection with false payroll and tax documentation directed

    to the straw employees in the Scopa conspiracy.

    We review a district court's factfinding at sentencing

    under a clearly erroneous standard. United States v. ______________

    Thompson, 32 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1994). On the record before ________

    us, ample evidence shows that Goldberg superintended the

    straws' receipt of false tax documents. Goldberg says that



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    Scopa and Clark were the true leaders of the two

    conspiracies. But a defendant need not be at the top of a

    criminal scheme to be a manager or supervisor. United States _____________

    v. Savoie, 985 F.2d 612, 616 (1st Cir. 1993). Here, ______

    Goldberg's role was sufficient for the enhancement even if we

    assume that Scopa conceived of the payroll scheme and may

    have exercised primary supervision over the straws.

    Affirmed. ________





































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Document Info

Docket Number: 96-1132

Filed Date: 2/13/1997

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 9/21/2015

Authorities (26)

United States v. Noel Murphy, A/K/A Noel O'murchu, United ... , 852 F.2d 1 ( 1988 )

United States v. Anthony Phillip Tarvers, Jr., United ... , 833 F.2d 1068 ( 1987 )

United States v. Ralph Petrozziello , 548 F.2d 20 ( 1977 )

United States v. Delano Lopez , 71 F.3d 954 ( 1995 )

United States v. Joaquin Cambara, United States of America ... , 902 F.2d 144 ( 1990 )

United States v. Paul J. Savoie , 985 F.2d 612 ( 1993 )

United States v. Michael J. Fields, United States of ... , 871 F.2d 188 ( 1989 )

United States v. William J. Cintolo , 818 F.2d 980 ( 1987 )

United States v. Pedro Saade, United States of America v. ... , 652 F.2d 1126 ( 1981 )

United States v. Robert S. Baines , 812 F.2d 41 ( 1987 )

United States v. Alan Reynolds, United States of America v. ... , 828 F.2d 46 ( 1987 )

United States v. Thompson , 32 F.3d 1 ( 1994 )

United States v. Gary , 74 F.3d 304 ( 1996 )

United States v. Saccoccia , 58 F.3d 754 ( 1995 )

United States v. Hyman Harvey Klein, Maurice Haas, and ... , 247 F.2d 908 ( 1957 )

United States v. David Jack Vogt, Jr. , 910 F.2d 1184 ( 1990 )

United States v. Manuel Juan Alvarez , 610 F.2d 1250 ( 1980 )

united-states-v-jason-brion-angiulo-united-states-of-america-v-john , 847 F.2d 956 ( 1988 )

United States v. Hubert Michaud , 860 F.2d 495 ( 1988 )

United States v. Guillermo Gil , 604 F.2d 546 ( 1979 )

View All Authorities »