Opinion ID: 686729
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lyons's Complaints

Text: 33 Lyons asserts that the District Court miscalculated the loss attributable to him. At sentencing, the Court ascribed to Lyons the entire loss occasioned by the ATM scheme--the $107,460 withdrawn with counterfeit ATM cards and the $100,000 of equipment fraudulently obtained by Pace and Greenfield to facilitate the scheme. This resulted in an eight-level enhancement under Sec. 2F1.1(b)(1)(I). Lyons argues that he should not be held accountable either (1) for the value of the fraudulently-obtained equipment, or (2) for the amount of money obtained with the counterfeit ATM cards after his claimed withdrawal from the conspiracy. On both these points, the Government concedes that Lyons's sentence cannot stand. We agree and remand for additional findings.
34 Section 1B1.3(a) provides that a defendant convicted for participation in a conspiracy is accountable in sentencing for all reasonably foreseeable acts and omissions of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity. U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). It follows that Lyons can be held accountable for the loss that stemmed from the non-payment of equipment suppliers by Pace and Greenfield if, but only if, these acts were in furtherance of their jointly undertaken criminal activity and were reasonably foreseeable by Lyons. 35 The District Court did not rule on whether all the frauds perpetrated by Pace and Greenfield against equipment suppliers were reasonably foreseeable by Lyons and were in furtherance of the conspirators' jointly undertaken criminal activity. The Court did find that Lyons could reasonably foresee that Pace and Greenfield would not pay for the phony ATM machine placed in the Buckland Mall. But the ATM machine accounts for only around $20,000 of the value of the fraudulently-obtained equipment. The District Court made no findings whatsoever concerning the remaining $80,000 worth of equipment that had been stolen by Pace and Greenfield. The Government concedes all this in its brief, and thus, as the Government recognizes, we must remand for further findings before we can determine what portion of the fraudulently-obtained equipment, and hence what part of the $100,000 total loss to the suppliers, can properly be attributed to Lyons. See United States v. Negron, 967 F.2d 68, 72-73 (2d Cir.1992) (remanding for further findings on whether co-defendants' activity was within the scope of defendant's agreement and was reasonably foreseeable to defendant). 6
36 Lyons claims that he withdrew from the conspiracy on May 14 and should not be held accountable for losses caused by the conspiracy after that date. The District Court rejected Lyons's contention and held that, even accepting the description of Lyons's acts as true, these acts would still not be sufficient to amount to a withdrawal from the conspiracy. The Government conceded at oral argument that this holding was incorrect, and once again, we agree. 37 As this Circuit has explained, though the cessation of conspiratorial activity is generally considered insufficient to demonstrate a withdrawal from a conspiracy, either the making of a clean breast to the authorities, or communication of the abandonment in a manner reasonably calculated to reach co-conspirators is sufficient to establish withdrawal. United States v. Borelli, 336 F.2d 376, 388 (2d Cir.1964) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 960, 85 S.Ct. 647, 13 L.Ed.2d 555 (1965). Accord United States v. Minicone, 960 F.2d 1099, 1108 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1511, 117 L.Ed.2d 648 (1992); United States v. Nerlinger, 862 F.2d 967, 974 (2d Cir.1988). If Lyons's claims--that, at a meeting with Pace, he clearly explained that he no longer wished to be part of the conspiracy--are true, then Lyons clearly communicated an abandonment [of the conspiracy] in a manner reasonably calculated to reach co-conspirators, and thus adequately established his withdrawal from the ATM scheme. 38 A conspiracy exists when persons combine and agree for the purposes of committing an unlawful act, see Black's Law Dictionary 309-10 (6th ed. 1990). A defendant withdraws from a conspiracy when he or she abandons the combination and agreement. But, since it is all too easy after the fact for a defendant to claim that he or she withdrew from a plot, the law generally requires the taking of some affirmative action, Borelli, 336 F.2d at 388. Indeed, [u]nless a conspirator produces affirmative evidence of withdrawal, his participation in a conspiracy is presumed to continue until the last overt act by any of the conspirators. United States v. Panebianco, 543 F.2d 447, 453 (2d Cir.1976) (citing Hyde v. United States, 225 U.S. 347, 369, 32 S.Ct. 793, 803, 56 L.Ed. 1114 (1912)), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1103, 97 S.Ct. 1128, 51 L.Ed.2d 553 (1977). 39 The point of such affirmative evidence requirements, though, is not to compel a conspirator to inform on his or her co-conspirators or to warn-off possible victims, admirable as those actions might be. It is rather to make sure that a withdrawal did occur and is not simply being invented ex post. Lyons gave evidence of his withdrawal. The District Court treated that evidence as true. We hold that the District Court could not accept Lyons's factual claims as true and still rule that his withdrawal did not occur. 40 Since the District Court erred in concluding that Lyons's alleged actions were insufficient, as a matter of law, to constitute a withdrawal from the conspiracy, we must remand for reconsideration of Lyons's withdrawal claim. If Lyons took the actions he claims to have taken, these would be sufficient to establish his withdrawal from the ATM conspiracy. On remand, the Court must determine whether Lyons did, in fact, do what he said he did. 7