Opinion ID: 661567
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Face Value Question

Text: 15 Mr. Ramacci argues that the district court committed error when it included approximately $260,000 in partially completed bills, printed on the back only, in its sentencing calculation. Pursuant to U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(a), the base level for the offense of counterfeiting is 9. If the face value of the counterfeit currency exceeds $2,000, U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1) directs the district court to apply an upward adjustment from the table at U.S.S.G. Sec. 2F1.1 (Fraud and Deceit). Pursuant to U.S.S.G. Sec. 2F1.1(b)(1)(K), a loss of over $500,000 dictates an upward adjustment of ten levels. Thus, if both the completed and uncompleted bills are to be counted, an adjusted offense level of 19 would apply. If the $260,000 in uncompleted bills were not counted as part of the face value calculation, the total face value of the counterfeit notes would be approximately $350,000. U.S.S.G. Sec. 2F1.1(b)(1)(I) would thus dictate an eight-level upward adjustment, yielding a total offense level of 17. 16 At the outset, we note that the guideline contains no requirement that the bills in question be complete. We agree with the government that application note 2, which requires that the bill be falsely made or manufactured in its entirety, does not require that the false instrument be complete, but that it not be a genuine instrument that has been altered. This point is made clear by the last sentence of this application note which directs the court to another section of the guidelines in the case of the alteration of an originally valid instrument. 17 Another aspect of the structure of the relevant guideline suggests strongly that the counterfeit notes need not be completed in order to be counted for purposes of sentencing. Mr. Ramacci was sentenced under U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1). This section, as we have just noted, is cast in terms of the face value of the notes; it says nothing about their completion. By contrast, the subsequent subsection, which sets a minimum level of 15 when the manufacture of counterfeit notes is involved, specifies, in the accompanying application note 3, that this minimum is not applicable if the notes are so obviously counterfeit that they are unlikely to be accepted if subjected to only minimal scrutiny. As the government notes, by implication, U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1) would apply even to those bills that are obviously counterfeit. 18 In United States v. Lamere, 980 F.2d 506 (8th Cir.1992), the Eighth Circuit determined that partially completed bills should be counted under U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1. Our colleagues in the Eighth Circuit reasoned that the term face value does not require that the counterfeit bills be of passable quality. Lamere, 980 F.2d at 513. In addition to addressing the structural aspects of the guideline that we have discussed in the preceding paragraphs, the court pointed out that the legislative history supports the conclusion that the Sentencing Commission did not intend to exempt partially completed bills from the sentencing calculation under Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1). Id. at 513. A proposed application note (Application Note 4) that would have directed the district court to disregard discarded defective items was never adopted. Compare 54 Fed.Reg. 9,132 (1989) (proposed amendments) (emphasis added) with 54 Fed.Reg. 21,356 (1989) (adopted amendments). The Eighth Circuit reasoned that the rejection of Application Note 4 evidenced an intention that the courts should appropriately consider less than perfectly completed counterfeit bills. Lamere, 980 F.2d at 513. More recently, the Second Circuit in United States v. Rodriguez, 989 F.2d 583, 586 (2d Cir.1993), expressly agreed with the reasoning of the Eighth Circuit and upheld the inclusion of defective counterfeit bills in the sentencing calculation. In that case, the district court had held the defendant liable for a great quantity of defective counterfeit money. The Second Circuit specifically held that ... counterfeit currency counted for purposes of Guidelines Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1) need not be of passable quality.... Id. 19 We believe that there is no reason for this circuit to adopt an analysis different from the one already employed by the other circuits that have confronted the question. We believe that the Eighth Circuit's analysis in Lamere is a well-reasoned and logical approach to the issue before us. The Second Circuit's application of Lamere in Rodriguez to partially completed counterfeit bills under U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1) appropriately applied that reasoning. 20 Finally, we note that Mr. Ramacci was sentenced for participating in a conspiracy to manufacture, to pass, and to possess counterfeit currency. Moreover, the counterfeit bills stored for safekeeping by a co-conspirator were an appropriate measure of the extent of that conspiracy. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court properly applied Lamere in determining the face value of the counterfeit currency at issue. The partially completed counterfeit bills were correctly included in the sentencing calculation. Cf. Rodriguez, 989 F.2d at 586 (The washed currency may have come off the presses defective or for other reasons may have been headed for the trash heap; however, its production was at least an act committed by Rodriguez that was part of the same course of conduct as the offense of conviction and that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction.). 21 A review of U.S.S.G. Sec. 2X1.1 establishes that the guideline applies the base offense level for the substantive offense--here counterfeiting--plus any adjustments from such guideline for any intended offense conduct that can be established with reasonable certainty. U.S.S.G. Sec. 2X1.1(a). The reasonable certainty analysis of Sec. 2X1.1 returns us to U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B5.1(b)(1), which expressly provides that the punishment for the defendant's participation in the conspiracy should reflect the face value of the counterfeit items. Our review of the transcript makes it clear that the district court was on solid ground when it concluded that the entire amount of uncompleted bills was part of the conspiracy.