United States v. MayUnited States v. May
OPINION
Defendant Mark W. May appeals for the second time the sentence imposed by the district court upon his jury conviction for willfully evading his personal income tax liability, in violation of
I.
May was the registered agent, majority shareholder, sole director, and president of Maranatha Financial Group, Inc., a fee-based financial advisory firm in Dayton, Ohio. Testimony at trial from numerous employees revealed that May kept a tight control on who could open the company’s mail. Specifically, no one but May himself could open any mail that appeared to originate from banks, government agencies, or law firms. As part of this strict control over company correspondence, May instructed Maranatha’s accountant to withhold the proper amount from employees’ paychecks but never authorized the accountant to write any checks to transfer these funds to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). No one other than May had the authority to sign checks for the company. When tax authorities commenced investigating Maranatha’s activities in March 1994, they discovered that the corporation had never filed either an income tax return or an employment tax return. The IRS further determined thаt May had failed to withhold taxes from his own paycheck but nonetheless had stated on his personal tax form that such funds had been withheld and paid to the government.
As the IRS investigation into Maranatha’s activities intensified, May decided to close Maranatha. On Friday, December 20, 1996, Maranatha effectively ceased operations. The next Monday, December 23, USA Financial opened in Dayton. USA Financial opened its offices in a new building but maintained almost exactly the same employees as Maranatha. The “new” firm provided the same fee-based financial planning services as its predecessor and used the same copyrighted documents that Maranatha had employed in its
On April 9, 2002, a federal grand jury charged May with two counts of willfully evading his personal income tax liability for calendar years 1995 and 1996, in violation of
On January 29, 2007, the district court held May’s resentencing hearing. Both in his pre-hearing motions and at the hearing itself, May objected to the calculations contained within the PSR. May objected to the grouping of the
In his post-hearing motion to reopen the judgment, May alleged three assignments
II.
A.
Pursuant to a December 29, 2008 order of this court, the parties were directed to file letter briefs addressing the question of whether May’s December 15 release from prison rendered any of his issues on appeal moot. The government responded on December 30, 2008, and argued that May’s release rendered all issuеs except those concerning restitution and supervised release moot. (Govt. Let. at 2.) May responded on January 5, 2009, and citing to our decision in
United States v. Maken,
In
Maken,
we held that “[ejven when an appellant has been released from custody, his case is not moot so long as the appeal ‘potentially implicates’ the length of the appellant’s supervised release term.”
Id.
at 656 n. 3 (citation omitted). Maken, like May, appealed from a conviction for tax evasion under
B.
May first argues that the district court erred by increasing his offense level by two levels for “abus[ing] a position of public or private trust” undеr Section 3B1.3 of the Sentencing Guidelines. May asserts that even taking everything the government says as true concerning his level of control over Maranatha and USA Financial, his conduct did not warrant application ■ of the enhancement. May further warns that accepting the government’s argument would mean that anyone who failed to pay taxes would suffer the enhancement. At oral argument, the government clarified that its primary assertion is that the victim in this case is the IRS and that May was in a position of trust vis-a-vis the IRS as defined by the Guidelines. The Government further cited the recent holding of the Third Circuit in
United States v. Lombardo,
“We review
de novo
the District Court’s determination that [the defendant] occupied a position of trust for the purpose of the Sentencing Guidelines.”
United States v. Tribble,
Our case law has also constrained the circumstances under which the abuse-of-trust enhancement can apply. In
United States v. White,
While the government did not concede that the IRS was the only victim of May’s scheme within the meaning of the Sentencing Guidelines, it was correct to make that line of argument its primary focus. In
Ragland,
we considered the application of the abuse-of-trust enhancement to an analogous set of facts. Ragland was a bank teller convicted of embezzling customers’ funds meant for deposit.
The facts of May’s conviction for failing to account for and рay over payroll taxes align with
Ragland.
The money deducted from the employees’ paychecks was meant for the IRS just as the customers’ deposits were meant for the victim bank.
Cf. id.
at 501. Thus, the IRS, not the employees, is the victim of May’s Section 7202 offense. The question then becomes whether May held a position of trust in relation to the government. May’s role would appear to be more like that of a bank teller — May’s only duty was to collect the money and pass it along to the government, as a teller’s only job is to collect depositors’ money and pass it along to the bank — rather than that of a bank executive.
See
U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 n. 1;
Ragland,
The government’s citation to the Third Circuit’s decision in
Lombardo
is inapposite. While it is true that the Third Circuit affirmed the application of a Section 3B1.3 enhancement in the case of a defen
C.
May’s second assignment of error is that the district court erred by impermissibly double counting the amount of the tax loss to determine the proper offense level under the Guidelines. The government readily admits that the district court double counted the tax loss but argues that the Sentencing Guidelines and our prior case law require such double counting. When reviewing the district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines, we review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and mixed questions of law and fact
de novo. United States v. Davidson,
The amount May alleges the district court impermissibly double counted comes from the aggregation of the tax losses caused by May’s evasion of his personal income tax liability and his failure to account for and pay over payroll taxes in his role as president of Maranatha Financial. In his role as Maranatha president, May had Maranatha’s accountant list the amount of May’s personal income tax liability on his corporate salary as deducted from his paycheck for payroll tax purposes. No amount of money was actually withheld from May’s corporate paycheck. Nonetheless, May listed the payroll tax amounts supposedly deducted on his personal income tax forms and then used those phantom tax payments to reduce his remaining income tax liability. The issue of double counting arises because May only owed the amounts in question as tax once. May could either deduct the tax payments from his paycheck and pay them as payroll taxes or he could wait and pay them as a part of his personal income tax return. Despite the fact that the taxes were only owed once, the government contends that the Sentencing Guidelines demand that we count the tax loss twice, once for the payroll tax loss calculation and оnce for the personal income tax evasion calculation.
Section 3D1.3 of the Sentencing Guidelines provides that “[i]n the case of counts grouped together ... the offense level applicable to a Group is the offense level corresponding to the aggregated quantity, determined in accordance with Chapter Two.” U.S.S.G. § 3D1.3(b). Turning to Chapter Two, the application notes require that “[i]f the offense involves both individual and corporate tax returns, the tax loss is the aggregate tax loss from the offenses
Despite the initial appeal of the government’s argument, the facts of May’s case differ from those we and other circuits have previously decided.
Cseplo
involved a scheme whereby the defendant skimmed money from a corporation he owned and converted the money to his own uses.
As the government has admitted, the funds on which May failed to pay taxes were only subject to being taxed
once.
May could pay them as payroll taxes or pay them on his individual income tax form. (Gov’t Br. at 37-38.) Section 2Tl.l(c)(3) requires that “[i]f the offense involved willful failure to pay tax, the tax loss is the
amount of the tax that the taxpayer owed
and did not pay.” (emphasis added). Thus, Section 2T1.1(e)(3) applies here because both of the statutes under which the jury convicted May require willfulness.
See
May’s nеxt argument is that the district court erred in its calculation of the amount of restitution owed. May’s contention is closely related to the calculation of the proper tax loss amount for the purpose of calculating the Guidelines’ base level discussed above. May once again argues that the district court improperly double counted the amount of restitution by counting the tax May owed on his own income twice. The government here concedes that May is correct and that the district court erred in its restitution calculation. The government therefore requests that we reduce thе amount of May’s restitution order by $84,776 and remand to the district court to allow the government to pursue for the third time its request for additional restitution based upon the amount of accrued interest between May’s original missed tax payments and the district court’s restitution order.
The government is correct to concede that the district court erred in its restitution calculation. The amount in dispute comes from the district court’s order concerning restitution for Count 2 of the indictment, which concerned May’s evasion of personal income taxes for tax year 1996. The district court ordered restitution on Count 2 in the amоunt of $93,547, the same amount by which May seeks to have this court reduce the award. That amount constitutes May’s entire tax liability for tax year 1996. However, the record reveals that a portion of the $93,547 was also factored into the government’s restitution calculation as to the amount May failed to pay as payroll tax for Maranatha. This is because May falsely claimed on his personal income tax form to have deducted a total of $84,776 from his paycheck and tendered it to the government with the company’s payroll taxes. May deducted this amount from his tax liability for 1996, leaving him owing $8,771 more in personal income taxes to add up to his total 1996 tax liability of $93,547. Thus, the district court erroneously added the $84,776 to both the restitution amounts for the back payroll tax liability and May’s past due 1996 personal taxes when the entire amount would have been payable to the government only once, either as a part of May’s payroll taxes or on his personal 1040 form. As shown by the income tax examiner’s form entered into evidence, May’s restitution for Count 2 should be only $8,771, the extra amount of tax May owed in addition to the amount May falsely claimed to have paid earlier in payroll taxes. Deducting the $84,776 thаt the district court erroneously double counted in its restitution calculations yields a new total restitution amount of $643,314.
5
We therefore modify the district court’s restitution order accordingly. We also decline the government’s invitation to allow it on remand to argue once again that May should pay accrued interest. The government will receive statutory interest on the amount awarded,
see
E.
Finally, May raises numerous other issues for our review as to the propriety of his sentence, all of which we determine to be meritless. May first alleges that the district court erred by imposing a sophisticated means enhancement under Section 2T1.1(b)(2) of the Guidelines. Contrary to May’s assertions, May did much more than merely fail to pay taxes “plain and simple.” (Def. Br. at 11.) The record clearly demonstrates that May closed Maranatha and opened a new financial advisory firm, USA Financial, to hide his ownership interest. May also established an S-Corporation and trust to funnel money to his wifе in order to disguise the distribution of profits from both Maranatha and USA Financial. The district court did not clearly err in applying the Section 2T1.1(b)(2) enhancement under such circumstances.
See, e.g., United States v. Middleton,
May next argues that the district court erred by enhancing his sentence under Section 3C1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines by finding that May committed perjury during his trial testimony. We disagree. The district court correctly followed the procedure we еstablished in
United States v. Sassanelli,
Likewise, the district court did not err in mandating special conditions of supervised release. “We review the imposition of a supervised-release condition for abuse of disсretion.”
United States v. Carter,
Nor was it an abuse of discretion for the district court to order May “to have no association with the Financial Services Industry, in any capacity whatsoever, except as a consumer.” Amended Judg. at 4. We have held thаt “[e]ven individual fundamental rights safeguarded by the United States Constitution may be denied or limited by judicially exacted special conditions of supervised release, as long as those restrictions are directly related to advancing the individual’s rehabilitation” and preventing recidivism.
United States v. Kingsley,
We further find that the district court did not impermissibly delegate its authority to establish a repayment plan to the IRS. The district court clearly stated at the resentencing hearing that it:
anticipate^] a payment plan being submitted to it within 30 days of the defendant’s beginning of supervised release that would set forth the nature of the regular payments, not only during supervised release, but for the period within which those payments can be demanded and accepted and paid.
Resentencing Tr. at 29. Here, the district court delegated the establishment of an initial payment plan to the IRS, which the district court would then approve or reject upon submission. Our precedents make clear that this is an acceptable рrocedure.
See Weinberger v. United States,
May does not fare any better with his argument that the district court erred by requiring him to pay on the balance he owed to the Ohio Attorney General. The district court ordered May to pay on his $186,949 settlement with the Ohio Attorney General’s office. May entered into the settlement to satisfy numerous customer complaints about refund guarantees Maranatha offered but not did honor. One can fairly say that individuals who do not pay income or payroll taxes for multiple years demonstrate a problem with paying obligations as they become due. Continuing to remain in good standing with the Ohio Attorney General on this debt will allow May to develop a habit of paying obligations when they are due. Thus, the requirement serves both to protect the public — by collecting a settlement meant to halt fraudulent conduct — and discourage recidivism.
See United States v. Bortels,
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the sentence imposed by the district court and remand with instructions to enter an order of restitution reflecting the correct amount of $643,314. As May has served the full term of his original sentence of incarceration, the district court should employ the new Guidelines’ calculations mandated by this opinion with an eye toward determining May’s term of supervised release.
Notes
. All citations to the Sentencing Guidelines in this opinion are to the 1995 version under which the district court sentenced May.
. Thus, the defendant violated
. One reason for the dearth of cases involving the joint prosecution of offenses under Sections 7201-7202 may be that willful failure to pay over payroll taxes is "a felony that is infrequently prosecuted.” U.S.S.G. § 2T1.6. Prosecuted cases involving corporate skimming are far more frequent.
. Because we have found that May’s sentence was procedurally unreаsonable, we need not address May's arguments concerning his sentence’s substantive reasonableness.
See Gall v. United States,
. The government’s brief also computes the total restitution incorrectly. It states that the total amount due is $634,314. (Gov’t. Br. at 38.) This is most likely a typographical error. ($728,090 - $84,776 = $643,314).
. May also argues that the district court erred by ordering restitution under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.
See generally United States v. Gilpatrick,