[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________ No. 18

- 13692 Non

- Argument Calendar

________________________ D.C. Docket No. 6:16

- cr - 00262

- JA

- TBS

- 2

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff

- Appellee,

versus VIKTOR IYA JOHNSON, Defendant

- Appellant.

________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

_________________ _______ (August 28, 2019) Before WILLIAM PRYOR , MARTIN and BRANCH , Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:

Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 1 of 62 Viktoriya Johnson appeals her convictions for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1349, and for wire fraud, i d

. § 1343. Johnson’s convictions arose from her role in a conspiracy to defraud real estate investors by conning them in to pay ing for income

- producing real estate and misappropriating their money through a Ponzi scheme

. Johnson challenges the denial of her motion for a judgment of acquittal , in which she argued that she lacked actual knowledge of the scheme to defraud. Johnson also argues, for the first time, that she was entitled to

an acquittal b ecause the government failed to prove its alternative theory that she acted with deliberate i gnoran ce. We affi rm. We apply t wo standards of review in this appeal. We review the denial of a motion for a judgment of acquittal de novo and draw all inferences from the evidence in favor of the government. United States v. Rutgerson , 822 F.3d 1223, 1231 (11th Cir. 2016)

. “ We are required to affirm [a] conviction if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Knowledge is an element of conspir acy and o f wire fraud. A defendant is guilty of conspiracy if she joined the conspiracy voluntarily with general knowledge of its objective

. United States v. Moran , 778 F.3d 942, 960 (11th Cir. 2015)

. Circumstantial evidence suffices to prove knowledge when t he def endant’s

“ presence at the scene of conspiratorial activity [makes it] so obvious that

Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 2 of 63 knowledge of its character can fairly be attributed to [ h er] .” Id. at 960

– 61

. A defendant commits wire fraud if she knowingly participates in a scheme to defraud and uses or causes the use of the interstate wires in furtherance of the scheme

. United States v. Maxwell , 579 F.3d 1282, 1299 (11th Cir. 2009) . A defendant acts knowingly whether she “ act [s] only with positive knowledg e . . . [or she] a ct [s] with an awareness of the high probability of the existence of the fact in question.” United States v. Rivera , 944 F.2d 1563, 1570 (11th Cir. 1991)

. K nowledge can be proved with evidence of actual knowledge or of deliberate ignorance

. United States v. Prather , 205 F.3d 1265, 1270 (11th Cir. 2000)

. W hen a defendant t estifies in her defense, the jury may disbelieve he r testimony and consider it as substantive evidence of he r guilt. United States v.
Brown , 53 F.3d 312, 314 (11th Cir. 1995). By choosing to testify, the defendant

“ runs the risk that if disbelieved the jury might conclude the opposite of [ her] testimony is true.” Id. ( internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “At least where some corroborative evidence of guil t exists for the charged offense . . . and the defendant takes the stand in [ her] own defense, [ he r] testimony, denying guilt, may establish, by itself, elements of the offense.” Id. at 314

– 15. Th at “ rule applies with special force where . . . [ the governm ent must prove ] the defendant’s intent or knowledge . . . .” Id. at 315.

Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 3 of 64 Ample evidence prov ed that Johnson had actual knowledge of the scheme to defraud real estate investors , so we need not address t he alternative theory of d eliberate ignorance. T estimony f rom Johnson’s secretaries , her victims, and federal investigators and copies of bank statements, emails, checks, and bogus real estate documents prov ed that Johnson knew that the company she formed and
manag ed, Golden Investment Realty, Inc., operat ed a Ponzi scheme in which she and her boyfriend, Leone Alfano La Cava, misappropriated million s of dollars wired to them by 83 real estate investors and pa id th e m a pittance in rental income

. After Alfano conned inves tors in Italy , Johnson executed their scheme to defraud in Florida . She served as p resident of Golden Investment, managed its daily operations, opened and served as the sole signatory on i ts bank accounts, performed its bookkeeping , and supervised and paid office s taff. See United States v. Odoni , 782 F.3d 1226, 1232 (11th Cir. 2015) (“ A jury could infer Odoni knew the fraudulent nature of the operation because he was a central part of it . . .”);
Moran , 778 F.3d at 961

– 62. A s president o f Golden Investment , Johnson signed

c ontracts and quickclaim deeds for residential and commercial propert ie s that were either fictitious or were owned by other persons

. See United States v. Gaines , 690 F.2d 849, 853

– 54 (11th Cir. 1982) (concluding a jury may infer knowledge from the defendant ’s signature on paperwork).

Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 4 of 65 Johnson mis appropriat ed more than $1.3 million of investors’ money

. She accept ed payments wired directly to her personal bank account and transferr ed
money from company accounts to her personal accounts . She wr ote checks on
company accounts for cas h, which her secretaries use d to purchase cashier’s checks, and she wrote large checks o n which she reference d her spa, even after it closed. Johnson also made checks payable to her secretaries and instructed them to cash the checks and to send the money to her and to her relatives using Western Union wire transfers

. Shortly after receiving l arge payments, Johnson purchased a spa for $250,000, her home, three rental properties, and $927,000 in l uxury items, including expensive automobiles. Johnson also incriminated herself

. When confronted by one investor bearing a receipt for a wire transfer to her bank account , Johnson became “very nervous,” dodged into her office, and then fled from the building. See United States v. Blakey , 960 F.2d 996, 1000

– 01 (11th Cir. 1992) (recognizing flight suggest ed a conspira tor’s consciousness of guilt). Later, after a federal agen t told Johnson that all her propert ies w ere acquired with stolen money, s h e responded, “not everything.” When q uestioned by the agent, Johnson falsely denied serving as the president of Golden Inves tment

. And Johnson’s implausible testimony at trial

“ added further weight to the prosecution ’ s case. ” See United States v. Margarita
Garcia , 906 F.3d 1255, 1274 (11th Cir. 2018), cert. denied sub nom. Garcia v.

Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 5 of 66 United States , 139 S. Ct. 2027 (2019)

. Although Johnson testifie d that she was a “glorified secretary” for her coconspirator and was unaware of the scheme to de fraud, the jury discredit ed her testimony. See Brown , 53 F.3d at 314

– 15 ; see Margarita Garcia, 906 F.3d at 1274 (“ An explanation or den ial offered by a defendant at trial that the jury finds implausible or false may ‘ form a sufficient basis to allow the jury to find that the defendant had the requisite guilty knowledge. ’ ” ).
We AFFIRM Johnson’s convictions. Case: 18-13692 Date Filed: 08/28/2019 Page: 6 of 6