Source: https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/637-F-3d-128-2nd-Cir-2011-10-0520-cr-L-United-States-v-Pescatore-594945442
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 22:50:01+00:00

Document:
Party Name: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Michael PESCATORE, Defendant-Appellant.
Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Varuni Nelson, Beth P. Schwartz, Kathleen A. Nandan, Assistant United States Attorneys, Karen R. Hennigan, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Brooklyn, NY, of counsel), for Appellee.
James R. Froccaro, Jr., Port Washington, NY, for Defendant-Appellant.
by his identified chop shop victims. On appeal, Pescatore contends principally (1) that the government should be compelled to use a portion of the forfeited assets to satisfy his restitution obligations because no law prohibits such restoration; (2) that the judgment ordering him to pay $3 million in restitution is illegal to the extent that the total amount of victim losses listed in the pages of the presentence report (" PSR" ) that are attached to the amended judgment is less than $3 million; and (3) that his obligation should be further reduced because the actual amount of victim losses totals even less than the amount shown in the PSR. In opposition, the government argues (1) that the decision whether to grant Pescatore relief in the form of restoration lay solely within the Attorney General's discretion, which was not abused; (2) that the amended judgment of conviction reduced Pescatore's restitution obligation to $2,559,611.79 to match the losses identified in the PSR; and (3) that any contention that the $2,559,611.79 figure is erroneous is subject to plain-error analysis and does not meet that standard.
For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the district court did not err in rejecting Pescatore's restoration request; that the amended judgment did not reduce the $3 million amount that Pescatore was ordered to pay in restitution; and that Pescatore is not entitled to an immediate— if any— order excusing him from paying that amount. The amount to be paid is limited to the restitution amounts needed to make Pescatore's victims whole, plus interest that Pescatore is obligated to pay on the properly ordered restitution amounts that he has not timely paid, see 18 U.S.C. § 3612(f)(1), plus any penalties to which he may be subject for unpaid restitution amounts as to which he is or was delinquent and/or in default, see id. §§ 3612(g), 3572(h)-(i). If all required payments of restitution, interest, and restitution-related penalties total less than $3 million, Pescatore will be entitled to a refund of the remainder. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of Pescatore's motion but remand for further proceedings.
Pescatore, Astra, and numerous others were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2004. An 84-count second superseding indictment (the " Chop Shop Indictment" )— alleging, inter alia, operation of chop shops in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322, alteration or removal of motor vehicle identification numbers in violation of id. § 511, mail fraud in violation of id. § 1341, conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of id. § 371, and money laundering in violation of id. § 1956— named Pescatore in most of the counts.
In February 2005, Pescatore was also charged, in six counts of a new federal indictment, with extorting money from a number of individuals. In February 2006, the extortion case was tried, and Pescatore was convicted on three of the six counts.
In March 2006, pursuant to a plea agreement dated March 9, 2006 (the " Plea Agreement" or " Agreement" ), Pescatore pleaded guilty to one count of the Chop Shop Indictment (count 22), which charged him with owning, operating, maintaining, or controlling a chop shop, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2322. Pescatore admitted that, in that operation from March 1987 through June 14, 2004, he " engaged in receiving stolen motor vehicle parts" that were used " to rebuild damaged motor vehicles" (Plea Hearing Transcript, March 9, 2006 (" Plea Tr." ), at 19-20) and hired employees to take apart, rebuild, and sell such vehicles ( id. at 21). The scheme also involved, inter alia, altering and removing vehicle identification numbers so that stolen cars could be sold to unwitting customers. ( See id. at 22).
(Plea Agreement ¶ 1.e.). The final sentence of this provision applied to Pescatore's federal tax liabilities but became moot, as Pescatore paid that debt prior to being sentenced.

References: v. 
 § 3612
 § 2322
 § 511
 § 1341
 § 371
 § 1956
 § 2322