Source: https://casetext.com/case/us-v-pomazi
Timestamp: 2020-06-04 03:46:37
Document Index: 424222662

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1341', '§ 1291', '§ 3651', '§ 3579', '§ 3579', '§ 3663', '§ 212', '§ 4', '§ 3651', '§ 212', '§ 4', '§ 3651', '§ 3579', '§ 2', '§ 1512', '§ 3579', '§ 3579', '§ 3580', '§ 1341', '§ 3651']

U.S. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244 | Casetext Search + Citator
U.S. v. Hughey
The legality of a criminal sentence is examined on a de novo basis. See U.S. v. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244, 247…
U.S. v. Snider
As a threshold matter, therefore, we must determine whether the FPA or the VWPA governs and whether the…
Full title:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, v. LASZLO POMAZI…
851 F.2d 244 (9th Cir. 1988)
In United States v. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244, 248 (9th Cir. 1988), overruled on other grounds by Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411 (1990), this court held that a district court's failure to advise the defendant of the possibility of restitution did not constitute reversible error where the defendant was advised he was subject to a fine in an amount in excess of the restitution imposed.
Summary of this case from U.S. v. Crawford
No. 86-5129.
Before BRUNETTI and THOMPSON, Circuit Judges, and PRO, District Judge.
Honorable Philip M. Pro, United States District Judge for the District of Nevada, sitting by designation.
Pursuant to a plea bargain, Laszlo Pomazi ("Pomazi") pleaded guilty to a Second Superseding Information ("Information") charging him with two counts of mail fraud ( 18 U.S.C. § 1341). On Count 1, the district court sentenced Pomazi to two years imprisonment and ordered him to make restitution of $64,229. On Count 2, the court placed Pomazi on five years' probation. One of the conditions of probation was that Pomazi pay the $64,229 ordered on Count 1. Pomazi appeals from his sentence on the grounds that (1) the court failed to inform him about the possibility of restitution prior to entering his plea; (2) the district court erred in ordering restitution when no specific dollar amount of loss was alleged in the Information and his plea bargain was silent as to restitution; and (3) the government breached its plea agreement by recommending that restitution be paid. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.
Pomazi pleaded guilty to conducting a typical "boiler room" operation. The scheme operated essentially as follows: Pomazi and one or two cohorts would contact by telephone owners of small businesses located outside California and falsely advise them that they had won a valuable prize (either a car, a boat or a $5,000 cashier's check). The targeted victim would then be told that, in order to avoid paying a substantial federal tax on the prize, he or she should purchase a pen and pencil set from the caller's company for between $399 and $500. When the victim agreed, a pen and pencil set, worth much less than this stated amount, would be mailed to the victim who would they pay for the pen and pencil set with a postal money order mailed to the caller's fictitious company at a rented postal box. No one ever received a prize. According to the government, the scam grossed $180,000 over a three-month period.
B. Imposition of Restitution
Before resolving Pomazi's contention that he was ordered to pay restitution in an improper amount, we must first determine whether the district court erred in ordering restitution at all. Our threshold inquiry is whether restitution was ordered under the Federal Probation Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3651 ("FPA") or under the Victim and Witness Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3579, 3580 ("VWPA").
Pursuant to the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 3579 is renumbered as 18 U.S.C. § 3663, effective November 1, 1987.
Pub.L. No. 98-473, Title II, c. II § 212(a)(1), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 1987, as amended by Pub.L. No. 99-217, § 4, Dec. 26, 1985, 99 Stat. 1728.
This legislation also repeals, effective November 1, 1987, the provision for restitution set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3651. Pub.L. No. 98-473, Title II, c. II, § 212(a)(2), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 1987, as amended by Pub.L. No. 99-217, § 4, Dec. 26, 1985, 99 Stat. 1728.
The district court did not state under which of these two statutes it ordered restitution. However, probation was not granted on Count 1. Therefore, the $64,229 restitution order which was made part of the sentence on Count 1 could only have been imposed under the VWPA. This is so because the FPA only permits an order for restitution if probation is granted. 18 U.S.C. § 3651 ("While on probation and among the conditions thereof, the defendant . . . [m]ay be required to make restitution or reparation to aggrieved parties for actual damages or loss caused by the offense for which conviction was had"). The VWPA is not so limited. Restitution under the VWPA can be ordered as part of a sentence, or as a condition of probation. "The court . . . may order, in addition to or in lieu of any other penalty authorized by law, that the defendant make restitution to any victim of the offense." 18 U.S.C. § 3579(a)(1). See also United States v. Signori, 844 F.2d 635, 640 (9th Cir. 1988) (the VWPA was enacted primarily "to fill a sentencing gap left by section 3651. . .").
C. Notice of Restitution
It is undisputed that neither the district court nor the prosecution advised Pomazi, prior to the time he entered his plea, that restitution might be ordered. Fed.R. Crim.P. 11(c)(1) requires a district court, before accepting a guilty plea, to advise the defendant that, among other things, "the court may also order the defendant to make restitution to any victim of the offense . . ." In addition to this statutory requirement, we have stated that, in the plea bargain context, "where the defendant foregoes the right to trial as the condition of his plea, he must know to what he pleads." Whitney, 838 F.2d at 405. See also Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 244, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712, 23 L.Ed. 2d 274 (1969) (defendant must have "a full understanding of what [his] plea connotes and of its consequence."). Pomazi argues that the restitution portion of his sentence was illegally imposed because the district court did not advise him that restitution might be ordered, the Information made no mention of the dollar amount of victim losses, and his plea agreement was silent as to restitution.
The district court advised Pomazi at the Rule 11 hearing, and before he entered his plea, that he could be required to pay a fine of up to $500,000. As it turned out, the court ordered Pomazi to pay $64,229 in the form of restitution, rather than a fine. Pomazi could not have been surprised or prejudiced by the imposition of the $64,229 as restitution in light of his potential liability for $500,000. See United States v. Fentress, 792 F.2d 461, 466 (4th Cir. 1986) (failure to advise defendant at plea proceedings of possible restitution order deemed harmless in light of larger potential maximum fine). Any error in failing to advise Pomazi of the possibility of a restitution order did not affect his substantial rights under these circumstances. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(h) ("Any variance from the procedures required by [Rule 11] which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.").
D. Amount of Restitution
The legislative history of the VWPA demonstrates that Congress sought to implement a system by which "the wrongdoer is required to the degree possible to restore the victim to his or her prior state of well-being." S.Rep. No. 97-532, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 30 reprinted in 1982 U.S. Code Cong. Admin. News 2515, 2536 ("Senate Report"). "[T]he court in devising just sanctions for adjudicated offenders, should ensure that the wrongdoer make goods [sic], to the degree possible, the harm he has caused his victim." Id. Section 2 of the VWPA expressly states that one of Congress' purposes in enacting the legislation was "to ensure that the Federal Government does all that is possible within limits of the available resources to assist victims and witnesses of crime without infringing on the constitutional rights of the defendant." Pub.L. No. 97-291, § 2, 96 Stat. 1248 ( 18 U.S.C. § 1512 note). The Senate Report acknowledged an unfortunate trend within federal criminal courts by which restitution had become reduced "from being an inevitable if not exclusive sanction to being an occasional afterthought." Senate Report at 2536. In an effort to encourage more frequent imposition of restitution, the VWPA requires a district court to state its reasons on the record any time it decides not to order full restitution. 18 U.S.C. § 3579(a)(2).
Given the VWPA's objective of providing full compensation to victims, and the language of the Act which expressly authorizes the sentencing court to order a defendant to "make restitution to any victim of the offense" (18 U.S.C. § 3579 (emphasis added)), we do not believe Congress intended to limit the amount of restitution to amounts set forth in an indictment or information. For example, the victim's losses under section 3579(b) may include (1) the cost of necessary medical and related professional services, as well as non-medical care and treatment, (2) the cost of therapy and rehabilitation, (3) income loss, and (4) funeral and related expenses when the crime results in the death of the victim. It is unlikely these losses would be included in the indictment or information charging the crime to which they relate. Moreover, the Advisory Committee note to Fed.R. Crim.P. 11(c)(1) explains why a district court cannot advise a defendant of the exact amount of restitution at the time a plea is entered:
Because [the VWPA] contemplates that the amount of the restitution to be ordered will be ascertained later in the sentencing process, this amendment to Rule 11(c)(1) merely requires that the defendant be told of the court's power to order restitution. The exact amount or upper limit cannot and need not be stated at the time of the plea.
In view of the foregoing considerations, we hold that the sentencing court's determination of the proper amount of restitution is not limited by the amount of victim losses alleged in the charging instrument, so long as the defendant is given ample opportunity to contest the restitution amount, the amount of restitution ordered is supported by the evidence, and the amount is judicially established. See United States v. Black, 767 F.2d 1334, 1343 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1022, 106 S.Ct. 574, 88 L.Ed.2d 557 (1985); Phillips v. United States, 679 F.2d 192, 194-95 (9th Cir. 1982); United States v. Hill, 798 F.2d 402, 406 (10th Cir. 1986) ("[I]n determining the amount of loss to a victim for purposes of awarding restitution under the VWPA, a district court is not limited either by the amount specified in the indictment or the specific transactions alleged in the indictment."). See also United States v. Youpee, 836 F.2d 1181, 1183 (9th Cir. 1988).
In Youpee, 836 F.2d at 1183 n. 3, we noted an apparent conflict in this circuit between cases which had considered the question whether the court could order restitution in an amount greater than that set forth in an indictment or in a plea agreement. The case which caused the apparent conflict was United States v. Whitney, 785 F.2d 824 (9th Cir. 1986), as amended, 838 F.2d 404 (1988). Our case bears some striking similarity to Whitney. Here, as in Whitney, the Information makes no mention of the dollar losses suffered by victims as a result of Pomazi's fraudulent scheme, and the plea agreement does not address restitution. See Whitney, 785 F.2d at 824. We held in Whitney that in such a situation the district court imposed an illegal sentence when it ordered the defendant to pay restitution as a condition of probation. Whitney, as amended, 838 F.2d at 405. We stated in Youpee, that Whitney apparently conflicted with our decision in Phillips v. United States, 679 F.2d 192, 194 (9th Cir. 1982), as well as with "holdings in three other circuits." Youpee at 1183 n. 3.
We need not resolve the apparent conflict created by Whitney. Whitney was decided under the old FPA, not under the VWPA. See Whitney, as amended, 838 F.2d at 404 ("This case is not decided under the Victim Witness Protection Act (see particularly 18 U.S.C. § 3580(d)) that sets forth in detail procedures for issuing orders of restitution. Its effective date was January 1, 1983. All of the acts alleged in the indictment [in Whitney] occurred between 1977 and 1981."). Moreover, in the present case, before Pomazi entered his plea, he was advised by the court that he could be ordered to pay a fine of up to $500,000.
Section 3579(a)(1) permits restitution to " any victim of the offense" (emphasis added). The "offense" Pomazi was charged with was "mail fraud" under 18 U.S.C. § 1341, which encompasses "[a] scheme or artifice to defraud, [and to obtain] money . . . by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises. . . ."
In Phillips, 679 F.2d at 196, we agreed with the reasoning of the district court that, in cases involving mail fraud, "`offense' includes the fraudulent scheme alleged as an element of the offense and restitution may be ordered in an amount caused by the entire scheme rather than only in the amount caused by a particular mailing." See also United States v. Van Cauwenberghe, 827 F.2d 424, 434 (9th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 773, 98 L.Ed.2d 859 (1988) ("nothing in the language of § 3651 requires an interpretation `that restitution may not be ordered to a party not named in the count for which probation was ordered.'") (quoting United States v. Orr, 691 F.2d 431, 434 (9th Cir. 1982)). As the Seventh Circuit has stated, in cases which involve a continuing scheme to defraud, "it is within the power of the court to require restitution of any amount up to the entire illicit gain from such a scheme, even if only some specific incidents are the basis of the guilty plea." United States v. Davies, 683 F.2d 1052, 1055 (7th Cir. 1982). See also Hill, 798 F.2d at 406 ("for purposes of awarding restitution under the VWPA, a district court is not limited either by the amount specified in the indictment or the specific transactions alleged in the indictment.") (emphasis added).
E. Breach of the Plea Agreement
In United States v. Kamer, 781 F.2d 1380 (9th Cir.), cert. denied 479 U.S. 819, 107 S.Ct. 80, 93 L.Ed.2d 35 (1986), we held that imposition of over one million dollars in restitution was "material enough" to demand express inclusion in the plea agreement, and failure to do so amounted to a breach of the agreement. Kamer, 781 F.2d at 1389. While the facts in Kamer may have warranted such a result, those of the present case do not. In Kamer, the district court indicated to the defendant on several occasions that restitution would not be ordered. Id. In addition, the defendant told the district judge, after signing the plea agreement, that it was his understanding that restitution would not be imposed. Id. at 1388-89.
III [32] CONCLUSION
Before he entered his plea, Pomazi was advised by the court that he could be required to pay a fine of up to $500,000. In this circumstance, the court's failure to advise Pomazi that he might be ordered to pay restitution, subsequently ordered in the sum of $64,229, did not affect Pomazi's substantial rights. Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(h). In determining the amount of victim losses for restitution purposes under the VWPA, the sentencing court is not limited by the amount of losses specified in the charging instrument. In cases involving a scheme to defraud, the court may order restitution, under the VWPA, to any victim of the entire scheme even if not alleged in the indictment or information. The amount of restitution, however, must be definite and limited by the amount actually lost by the victims. The court must be able positively to identify each victim, and the amount of restitution must be judicially established in a proceeding in which the defendant has the opportunity to challenge the amount of restitution being sought. These safeguards were complied with in the present case. The government did not breach the plea agreement by recommending restitution.
In United States v. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244, 247 (9th Cir. 1988), overruled on other grounds, Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411, 110 S.Ct. 1979, 109 L.Ed.2d 408 (1990), we recognized that the FPA authorizes restitution only as a condition of probation.
Summary of this case from U.S. v. Snider
In United States v. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244, 247 (9th Cir. 1988), overruled on other grounds, Hughey, 110 S.Ct. 1979, we recognized that the FPA only authorizes restitution as a condition of probation, but that the VWPA is not so limited. Because the district court did not even grant Snider probation, let alone condition his probation upon the payment of restitution, it follows that the FPA does not authorize the court's order.
emphasizing compensatory nature of VWPA
Summary of this case from U.S. v. Cloud
In Pomazi, the Ninth Circuit ordered restitution to numerous victims of the defendant's mail fraud scheme, although, pursuant to a plea bargain, the defendant was convicted of only two counts of mail fraud involving one victim.
In United States v. Pomazi, 851 F.2d 244 (9th Cir. 1988), the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that courts must look at notions of basic fairness in deciding whether to assess restitution not agreed to in plea agreements.