Opinion ID: 777749
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Grouping was appropriate

Text: 26 In United States v. Napoli, this Court rejected a defendant's claim for grouping together money laundering and fraud counts. 179 F.3d 1, 7 (2d Cir.1999)(finding the district court correct in separating fraud and money laundering counts into two distinct groups). The analysis developed in that opinion, however, led the Court in United States v. Fitzgerald to hold that tax evasion, fraud, and conversion should be grouped under U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2(d). 232 F.3d 315, 320 (2d Cir. 2000)( per curiam ). United States v. Petrillo, published the month after Fitzgerald, confirmed Fitzgerald's conclusion, holding that tax evasion and mail fraud were properly grouped under § 3D1.2(d). 237 F.3d 119, 125 (2d Cir.2000). Although the Commission subsequently decided that money laundering and underlying offenses should be grouped under § 3D1.2(c) and provided more severe offense levels where such grouping involves serious underlying offenses, see U.S.S.G. § 2S1.1, cmt. n. 6 (2001); id. App. C Supp., Amend. 634, the reasoning of Napoli, Petrillo, and Fitzgerald remains instructive. 27 Reading only these opinions, one might conclude that although this Circuit has clearly established the appropriateness of applying § 3D1.2(d) when charges of mail fraud and tax evasion are grouped, it has not required such grouping in every instance. The Guidelines themselves, however, suggest that grouping is not optional. 28 Section 3D1.1 provides that [w]hen a defendant has been convicted of more than one count, the court shall: (1)[g]roup the counts resulting in conviction into distinct Groups of Closely Related Counts.... U.S.S.G. § 3D1.1(a)(1) (emphasis added). Section 3D1.2 adds that [a]ll counts involving substantially the same harm shall be grouped together into a single Group. U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2 (emphasis added). Recognizing that the Guidelines have the force of law, see Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 42, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993); United States v. Maria, 186 F.3d 65, 70 (2d Cir. 1999), this Court may not choose not to group tax evasion and mail fraud counts once the Court has determined that such counts are eligible for grouping under the Guidelines. When counts meet the § 3D1.1 and § 3D1.2 requirements, they must be grouped.