United States v. Christian Peterson, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 9572

Background

Christian Peterson, sole operator of several businesses (notably Maverick, Inc. and Peterson Properties), diverted corporate funds for personal uses (including gambling) and intercompany loans; his companies later defaulted and were investigated.
Peterson was indicted on 13 counts (bank fraud, false statements to banks, money laundering, pension theft); jury convicted him on 8 counts; district court entered acquittal on 2 counts and convicted on 6 counts after post-trial rulings.
Relevant misconduct: a $300,000 wire from Maverick’s M&I account to the MGM Grand (used to pay gambling debts), misuse of a $1.1M Greenwoods loan (much used for non-identified purposes and personal debts), and termination/temporary misappropriation of Maverick’s 401(k) funds (later reimbursed).
At sentencing the court found Peterson’s gross receipts from fraud to be $1,116,169 (the $300,000 M&I wire plus $816,169 from Greenwoods) and applied Guidelines enhancements for >$1M gross receipts and >$1M loss, producing an offense level of 25 and a sentence of 84 months (concurrent 60 months on pension count).
On appeal the Seventh Circuit affirmed the convictions (sufficiency of evidence, evidentiary rulings, jury instruction, joinder/severance), but concluded Peterson repaid the $300,000 wire before detection and so that amount must be subtracted from total loss; the court vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.

Issues

Issue	Peterson's Argument	Government's / District Court's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for M&I fraud (false statement re: $300,000 wire)	The wire was a legitimate shareholder distribution; not a false statement	Peterson’s contemporaneous statements and conduct showed it was for personal gambling; later records were post hoc	Affirmed — evidence sufficient for jury to find false statement
Sufficiency of evidence for Greenwoods false-statement counts	Peterson didn’t personally fill out loan application, so he didn’t make the false statements	Bank president testified Weber filled the application at Peterson’s direction based on Peterson’s info; Peterson signed closing documents	Affirmed — jury could credit Weber and find Peterson provided the representations
Exclusion of accountant testimony / right to present a defense	Limiting accountant’s testimony prevented showing the $300k was part of a $900k shareholder distribution	Court found limitation appropriate because the accountant lacked foundation/ledger access and other witnesses/general ledger were available	Affirmed — no deprivation of meaningful opportunity to present defense
Sentencing: Gross receipts and total loss calculations	$516,169 of Greenwoods proceeds used to pay corporate debts should not count as Peterson’s individual gross receipts; and $300,000 wire repaid should be excluded from loss	Application note treats proceeds as attributable to individual perpetrator when sole actor; repayment before detection must be subtracted from loss	Mixed: Gross receipts enhancement affirmed (Peterson sole perpetrator); total-loss reduced by $300,000 (repayment before detection) — sentence vacated and remanded for resentencing

Key Cases Cited

United States v. Johnson, 729 F.3d 710 (7th Cir.) (standard for overturning convictions based on insufficient evidence)
United States v. Pribble, 127 F.3d 583 (7th Cir.) (review standard: consider evidence in light most favorable to government)
United States v. Castellano, 349 F.3d 483 (7th Cir.) (allocating fraud proceeds among multiple participants; corporate formalities and gross-receipts analysis)
United States v. Edelkind, 467 F.3d 791 (1st Cir.) (proceeds attributable to defendant who controls disbursement even if legal ownership shifted)
United States v. Hausmann, 345 F.3d 952 (7th Cir.) (subtracting pre-detection repayments from total loss under Guidelines)
United States v. Berman, 21 F.3d 753 (7th Cir.) (contributory negligence of victim is not a defense to fraud)