United States v. Nael Sammour, 816 F.3d 1328

Nael Sammour, an Arab Muslim and long-time Florida resident, participated in a 2012 scheme filing fraudulent federal tax returns using stolen names/SSNs; he cashed refund checks and recruited check-cashers.
IRS undercover Agent Amjad Qaqish posed as a check-casher, met Sammour seven times (conversations in Arabic, recorded), and received 70+ Treasury checks from Sammour totaling over $700,000.
Sammour was indicted on two counts of aggravated identity theft and eight counts of theft of public money; he pleaded guilty to the theft counts but went to trial on the identity-theft counts.
At trial, the government presented recorded meetings (with English transcripts) and testimony proving the checks corresponded to real individuals (Giorlando and Gonzalez) and explaining IRS verification processes.
During deliberations a juror slipped a note expressing fear that the case “reeks of al Qaeda”; the district court questioned her privately, found her impartial, and returned her to the jury. Jury convicted Sammour of both aggravated identity-theft counts.
At sentencing the court imposed mandatory concurrent 24-month terms on identity-theft counts and a 115-month sentence (top of Guidelines) for eight theft counts after upward departure in criminal-history category and denial of acceptance-of-responsibility credit.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Sammour)	Defendant's Argument (Government)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated identity theft	Evidence did not prove identifications belonged to real persons or that Sammour knew they were real	Videotaped admissions, IRS verification, victims’ testimony supported both elements	Affirmed: evidence sufficient for a rational jury to find both elements
Jury instruction constructively amended indictment	Instruction added “date of birth” as a means of identification beyond indictment’s “name and SSN”	Adding a means (not an element) did not alter essential elements; no controlling precedent showing plain error	Affirmed: no plain error; instruction did not plainly amend indictment
Handling of juror note referencing al Qaeda	Court should have dismissed juror, declared mistrial, or further warned jurors	Court properly questioned juror privately, found her unbiased, and returned her; large discretion resides with trial judge	Affirmed: no abuse of discretion; credibility/demeanor findings not clearly erroneous
Sentencing enhancements and reasonableness	Challenges to 4-level victims enhancement, denial of acceptance credit, upward departure, and substantive reasonableness of 115 months	Victim count supported by 75 Treasury checks and IRS verification; acceptance offset by trial conduct; upward departure justified; within-Guidelines sentence reasonable	Affirmed: district court did not abuse discretion; sentence substantively reasonable

United States v. Chiantese, 582 F.2d 974 (5th Cir. 1978) (broad discretion for district courts in addressing juror bias)
Patton v. Yount, 467 U.S. 1025 (1984) (trial court’s superior position for juror credibility/demeanor findings)
Flores-Figueroa v. United States, 556 U.S. 646 (2009) (Government must prove defendant knew identification belonged to another person)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
United States v. Dominguez, 226 F.3d 1235 (11th Cir. 2000) (abuse-of-discretion review of juror-misconduct procedures)
Skilling v. United States, 561 U.S. 358 (2010) (deference to trial court’s finding that juror not biased)
United States v. Narog, 372 F.3d 1243 (11th Cir. 2004) (constructive amendment when indictment element broadened in instruction)
United States v. Hall, 704 F.3d 1317 (11th Cir. 2013) (definition of "use" of means of identification under Guidelines)
United States v. Philidor, 717 F.3d 883 (11th Cir. 2013) (IRS issuance of refund tied to valid SSN supports victim status)
Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338 (2007) (within-Guidelines sentences are entitled to a presumption of reasonableness)