Opinion ID: 197023
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Guilt

Text: 29 The Count II conspiracy charge required proof that the particular defendant and at least one other person expressly or tacitly agreed to commit a federal offense. DiMarzo, 80 F.3d at 660. The government must have shown that the defendant voluntarily participated to promote a criminal objective. Brandon, 17 F.3d at 428. When, as in this case, mail fraud is an alleged goal of the conspiracy, the government must prove either the intent to use the mails or that such use was reasonably foreseeable. Yefsky, 994 F.2d at 890; see also United States v. Dray, 901 F.2d 1132, 1137 (1st Cir.) (noting that intent element in conspiracy differs from substantive mail fraud), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 895, 111 S.Ct. 245, 112 L.Ed.2d 204 (1990). A particular defendant need not have been familiar with all the details of the conspiracy or with the identities of all other conspirators. United States v. Innamorati, 996 F.2d 456, 470 (1st Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1120, 114 S.Ct. 1072, 1073, 127 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994); United States v. Bello-Perez, 977 F.2d 664, 668 (1st Cir.1992). 30 A brief overview leaves no reasonable doubt that Billmyer, Cardiges, and other Honda sales executives, respectively, conspired to defraud Honda by accepting valuable consideration for awarding dealership franchises and other preferential treatment to Honda dealers and prospective dealers. 31
32 As early as 1979, while Billmyer was the eastern regional sales manager, Cardiges, as zone manager for the mid-Atlantic states, accepted a $10,000 payment from a Honda dealer in Philadelphia, and split it with Billmyer. In late 1979 or early 1980, Cardiges presented Billmyer with a gold Rolex watch worth as much as $15,000 from a large Honda dealer in the Washington, D.C. area. Beginning with the 1984 holiday season and continuing through 1992, Cardiges received $20,000 to $25,000 each year from John Rosatti, a Honda dealer in New York City. Rosatti told Cardiges that he was paying Billmyer also, because, as Cardiges testified at trial, like other dealers Rosatti wanted favorable treatment, wanted more automobiles, more franchises, and wanted the ability to have the ear of the people who were in power at Honda.Cardiges and Billmyer both helped a dealer named Rick Hendrick acquire approximately thirty Honda and Acura franchises in various states, including Texas, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In return, Hendrick helped Cardiges buy a California residence from which Cardiges later realized a $250,000 gain. Thereafter, Hendrick defrayed approximately $150,000 in interest payments on a loan Cardiges had obtained to buy a $700,000 home in Laguna Hills, California. During this same 1989-92 time frame, Hendrick intimated to Cardiges that he was involved in financing Billmyer's home in Palm Springs as well. Cardiges also learned from Billmyer that Hendrick had provided Billmyer with a top-of-the-line BMW. 33 Cardiges described periodic payoffs from one Marty Luftgarten, who owned dealerships in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and southern California. For example, at the grand opening of a Luftgarten dealership during the mid-1980s, Billmyer, Cardiges, and two other Honda sales managers, Bill Kutchera and Jeff Conway, gathered in a conference room where Luftgarten handed each an envelope containing $5,000 in cash. Around the holiday season, another dealer customarily sent Cardiges $5,000 gift certificates from Neiman-Marcus for both Cardiges and Billmyer. See Boylan, 898 F.2d at 242 (noting that defendants often cooperated with one another by collecting payments). The record is replete with other evidence of cash payments from dealers and lavish shopping trips to Hong Kong. 34
35 Similarly, there was ample evidence to enable a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Josleyn conspired with Cardiges and others to defraud Honda in connection with the Honda dealership franchises. In early 1991, while zone manager for the west coast, Josleyn arranged for a friend back east, Joe Pope, to pay $150,000 for the open point in Elk Grove, California. Josleyn approached Cardiges, national sales manager, and Robert Rivers, regional manager for the western United States, and advised that there would be money in it for all of them if Pope were to receive the Elk Grove dealership. Thereafter, Cardiges, Rivers, and Josleyn, in direct violation of Honda procedure, decided not to prospect for suitable dealership candidates, and awarded the Elk Grove franchise outright to Pope. As promised, Pope issued a $150,000 check payable to Gary & Associates, a company controlled by Josleyn and his brother Gary. Josleyn in turn gave Cardiges and Rivers each $50,000 in cash. 36 Cardiges testified that Ed Temple, a former Honda zone manager, approached him in the summer of 1991 in behalf of Bob Frink, a dealer interested in the Folsom, California point. Temple had accepted payoffs from dealers while employed by Honda, and after leaving the company in 1989 established a firm--Blakely Consultants--to facilitate payments to Honda executives from dealers seeking new Honda franchises. Simply put, Temple told Cardiges that Frink was willing to pay Cardiges and Josleyn for the Folsom dealership. On August 5, 1991, Cardiges signed the Folsom LOI, and on the same day Frink paid Blakely Consultants $500,000 for services rendered. Three days later, Temple wrote a $166,666 check to Magnum Marketing, a company owned by Josleyn. Cardiges reported $166,666 from Blakely Consultants on his own 1991 income tax return, although Temple had agreed to hold Cardiges' one-third share until Cardiges left Honda. 37 We need belabor the point no further, as there was ample evidence to enable the jury reasonably to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Josleyn was a member of the Count II dealership franchise conspiracy. See Boylan, 898 F.2d at 242.