Opinion ID: 782695
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Enhancement for Violation of a Judicial Order

Text: 41 On October 20, 1997, a judicial injunction was entered prohibiting Flarida from selling any magazine, engaging in any prize promotion, or owning any business entity that sold a magazine or engaged in a prize promotion. It also prohibited Flarida and his agents, employees, officers, servants, and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with him, who receive actual notice of [the injunction] by personal service or otherwise, from making material false representations or violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule. (Emphasis added.) In sentencing Woods, the district court applied a two-level enhancement on the ground that her offense violated the injunction. At the time of sentencing, such an enhancement was appropriate for offenses involving the violation of any judicial ... injunction. U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B) (1997). 42 Woods contends that the injunction did not apply to her because she lacked actual notice of it. We agree with Woods that the record fails to demonstrate actual notice. Circumstantial evidence established that Flarida and Woods had known each other for many years and had worked together at MTI and North Star. There was also evidence that Woods had falsely claimed to have received money from NSP that had actually been paid to Flarida. Considered together, this evidence supported an inference that Woods knew that Flarida had been under investigation and possibly that Flarida was hiding something, but that does not mean that Woods was told of or knew about the court's injunction. Because a preponderance of the evidence does not establish that Woods knew of the injunction, application of the enhancement was clearly erroneous.