Opinion ID: 2816319
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Johnson’s Loss Calculation

Text: Johnson also argues that in calculating the loss attributable to him, the District Court improperly included losses that overstate his criminal conduct and were not reasonably foreseeable to him. It is well-settled that a sentencing court need only make a “reasonable estimate” of loss that is based on the available evidence in the record, United States v. Tupone, 442 F.3d 145, 156 (3d Cir. 2006), and it is clear the District Court did so here. 20 Johnson’s arguments fail upon a review of the Government’s loss methodology, which the District Court approved when it adopted the most conservative of the Government’s proposed loss calculations. Johnson argues that the District Court erred by attributing all fraudulent tax returns to him, but the District Court did not do so. In fact, the Government did not ask the District Judge to do so. Along the same lines, Johnson argues he was improperly held responsible for returns filed from Fountain’s IRS computer and for claims filed before he joined the conspiracy or after he left. The Government, however, excluded those amounts from its calculations. Further, Johnson argues that Bruce, not he, was responsible for returns filed from Bruce’s IP address. But the District Court and the jury already rejected this argument based on Bruce’s trial testimony. Thus, attributing those amounts to Johnson at sentencing was not clear error. Finally, Johnson argues that the District Court improperly attributed to Johnson losses from the TETR and FTHBC conspiracies that were not reasonably foreseeable to him. In light of Johnson’s role in recruiting claimants and allowing the use of his address and bank account in the TETR scheme and his leadership in the FTHBC scheme, the District Judge’s inclusion of those amounts as reasonably foreseeable losses was not clear error. In sum, the District Court arrived at a reasonable estimate of the loss amount attributable to Johnson by adopting the Government’s conservative calculation. As such, we will not disturb the District Court’s findings on appeal.