Opinion ID: 170197
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Post-Indictment Conduct

Text: While the indictment was pending, Akers was housed at the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he met fellow inmate Donald Mixan. Akers told Mixan he was wealthy and showed him paperwork indicating he had an account containing over $7 million. Although he initially believed Akers, Mixan soon realized it was a scam. Nevertheless, Mixan agreed to help Akers because it was “[e]asy money.” (R. Vol. IV at 150.) Once Mixan was released, Akers had him purchase check-writing software and apply for credit cards. Akers directed Mixan to use the credit cards for his living expenses; the cards’ balances were paid from accounts which had no money in them. Akers instructed Mixan to send two checks totaling $150,000 to an attorney Akers wanted to retain. These checks were intercepted by law enforcement officers. Because the attorney never received the checks, Mixan personally delivered a third check for $100,000 to him. Two more checks, in the amounts of -3- $25,000 and $2,700, were sent to Akers’s alleged wife and Mixan’s landlord, respectively. All five checks were drawn on a U.S. Bank account that Mixan opened for Akers over the Internet with a $400 counterfeit check. Mixan also created a check for $2,500 using an account number he found in a dumpster. This check was deposited, at Akers’s direction, into one of Akers’s bank accounts. Akers further directed Mixan to create a $117,000 check and deposit it into another one of Akers’s bank accounts. Fortunately, the banks involved in this scheme were able to avoid incurring financial loss by freezing the accounts or intercepting, dishonoring or returning the checks to the payee. However, the scheme did result in an actual loss of $2,037.21 to various businesses.