Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca5-14-60454/USCOURTS-ca5-14-60454-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Luom Van Ngo
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 14-60454

Summary Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee

v.

LUOM VAN NGO,

Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Mississippi

USDC No. 1:13-CR-88-1

Before REAVLEY, DENNIS, and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges. 

PER CURIAM:*

Luom Van Ngo appeals the sentence imposed for his guilty plea 

conviction for mail fraud. He was sentenced to 36 months of imprisonment and 

three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine and $18,575 

in restitution. He contends that the district court clearly erred by applying a 

two-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1(b)(10)(C) for an offense 

involving sophisticated means.

 

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not 

be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH 

CIR. R. 47.5.4.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

July 10, 2015

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

Case: 14-60454 Document: 00513111504 Page: 1 Date Filed: 07/10/2015
No. 14-60454

2

Section 2B1.1(b)(10)(C) provides for a two-level enhancement if the 

offense involved “sophisticated means.” § 2B1.1(b)(10)(C). We review the 

district court’s factual finding that § 2B1.1(b)(10)(C) applies for clear error. 

United States v. Valdez, 726 F.3d 684, 695 (5th Cir. 2013). A factual finding is 

not clearly erroneous so long as it is plausible in light of the record as a whole. 

Id. at 692.

Ngo defrauded the fund reserved for victims of the Deepwater Horizon 

oil spill by misrepresenting both that he was the owner of a commercial fishing 

business and that he incurred losses as a result of the oil spill. He obtained 

and then altered licenses for commercial fishing and created numerous 

fictitious business invoices to support his claim and conceal the fact that the 

commercial fishing business did not exist. He continued to use these 

fraudulent documents in additional attempts to file fraudulent claims. The 

investigating agent testified that most fraud cases related to the oil spill did 

not involve a fictitious business or supporting documentation, bringing Ngo’s 

conduct outside the scope of a simple fraud case. Therefore, the district court’s 

finding that this offense involved sophisticated means was plausible in light of 

the record as a whole and not clearly erroneous. See Valdez, 726 F.3d at 692, 

695. 

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Case: 14-60454 Document: 00513111504 Page: 2 Date Filed: 07/10/2015