Opinion ID: 170385
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Issue of Valuation

Text: In calculating the amount of loss, the PSR included the items recovered from Ary's home and artifacts his attorney delivered to the government. [7] The U.S. Probation Office examined the available evidence and only included items for which the government could show how the government or the Cosmosphere acquired the artifact. The probation officer assigned each item an auction price with a cumulative value of $88,947. Ary objected to the valuation of these items as speculative, impracticable to determine and inadequate to measure the harm. The government introduced at trial not only acquisition records but also auction catalogues, which included estimated prices certain items would fetch at auction. In many cases, the auction value of an item was far greater than the price at which the Cosmosphere obtained the artifact. The Guidelines state the estimate of amount of loss should be based on available information, taking into account factors such as [t]he fair market value of the property unlawfully taken. . . . U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 cmt. n. 3(C)(i). The use of auction value was appropriate as a measure of fair market value. The record demonstrates the auction value of the items seized at Ary's house and those turned over to the government exceeded $88,947. Ary's objection to the use of auction value is therefore without merit.