Opinion ID: 779007
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Calculation of Loss under the Sentencing Guidelines

Text: 70 Caldwell was sentenced under the 1998 edition of the Sentencing Guidelines. In that edition, the guideline applicable to mail fraud convictions increases the base offense level from zero to eighteen levels depending on the amount of loss that the sentencing court attributes to the defendant. See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 2F1.1(b)(1), app. A (1998). Caldwell argues that the district court's calculation of loss is erroneous for two reasons: (1) the court based its calculation on Caldwell's gain without making a threshold determination that there was an actual loss, and (2) the calculation does not account for the services rendered by Caldwell. In support of these arguments, Caldwell relies on revisions of the definition of loss in the guideline's commentary made in Amendment 617, which became effective on November 1, 2001 (after Caldwell was sentenced). See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL app. C, supp. at 185 (1998-2001). Specifically, Caldwell points to the new provisions in the commentary (1) that [t]he court shall use the gain that resulted from the offense as an alternative measure of loss only if there is a loss but it reasonably cannot be determined, U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 2B1.1 cmt. n. 2(B), and (2) that [l]oss shall be reduced by ... the services rendered, by the defendant or other persons acting jointly with the defendant, to the victim before the offense was detected, id. § 2B1.1 cmt. n. 2(E)(i). 71 A district court's calculation of loss attributable to a defendant's scheme to defraud is a factual finding that this court reviews for clear error. United States v. Sidhu, 130 F.3d 644, 654 (5th Cir.1997). Particular provisions of Amendment 617 apply retroactively to Caldwell's case only if they are intended merely to clarify, rather than to substantively change, the guidelines or their commentary. United States v. Davidson, 283 F.3d 681, 684 (5th Cir.2002). We need not make this retroactivity determination, however, because the district court's loss calculation is consistent with Amendment 617. 72 The district court calculated the loss attributable to Caldwell ($1,377,830.52) by adding the amounts paid by Magnolia Venture (1) to CSG ($1,170,779.39), (2) to Caldwell for one of his annual bonuses ($75,000), (3) to American Telesys ($75,483.89), 15 (4) to Caldwell in monthly distributions from Magnolia Venture's profits ($44,302.50), and (5) to a country club for Caldwell's membership fees and purchases ($12,264.74). Initially, Caldwell's argument that this calculation was based on gain is incorrect. The district court's comments at the sentencing hearing, as well as the amounts themselves, make clear that the district court sought to determine the total amount that Magnolia Venture actually lost as a result of Caldwell's scheme by focusing on the amounts that Magnolia Venture paid to Caldwell and his companies. Because the court calculated loss in this manner, Caldwell did in fact gain a substantial portion of the total loss. However, the court adopted this approach (from Caldwell's presentence report) in order to determine the portion of the total loss incurred by Magnolia Venture that could fairly be attributed to Caldwell, not in order to account for Caldwell's gain. 16 73 We also reject Caldwell's contention that the district court's loss calculation does not account for services rendered. As the government points out, by excluding certain amounts that the presentence report counted as losses — including Caldwell's salary, health and life insurance, and travel and entertainment expenses — the district court sufficiently accounted for any services that Caldwell provided to the victims of his fraudulent scheme. Moreover, even assuming that the district court had not accounted for services rendered, the commentary to Amendment 617 indicates that the provision regarding deduction of value for services rendered is a substantive change rather than a clarification and, thus, may not be retroactively applied to Caldwell's sentence. 17 Accordingly, the district court did not clearly err in determining the loss attributable to Caldwell for sentencing purposes. 74