Opinion ID: 724923
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Sentencing Cross-Appeal.

Text: 34 The district court sentenced Dr. Jain for his Medicare anti-kickback offense under U.S.S.G. § 2B4.1, which governs commercial bribery and kickback offenses. That guideline mandates an increase in the base offense level if an improper benefit exceeding $2000 was conferred upon the defendant. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2B4.1(a), (b)(1), and 2C1.1, comment. (backg'd). The amount of the increase is determined by a cross-reference to the table in § 2F1.1. The district court declined to impose an increase because it found that Dr. Jain received less than $2,000 for referring one Medicare patient to North Hills. On appeal, the government argues that all of the $40,500 in referral payments should have been counted as relevant conduct because there was one common scheme or plan. 35 The district court's factual determination of relevant conduct is reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. See United States v. Sheahan, 31 F.3d 595, 599 (8th Cir.1994). Relevant conduct for sentencing purposes must be criminal conduct. Id. at 600. The district court acquitted Dr. Jain of the bribery charge, and we have acquitted him of the mail fraud charges. At the time in question, Medicare did not reimburse payments for psychologist services, so there is no factual basis to presume that the Jain/North Hills fee arrangement targeted Medicare patients. In these circumstances, while a sentencing court may consider conduct for which the defendant has been acquitted, see United States v. Galloway, 976 F.2d 414, 424 n. 6 (8th Cir.1992) (en banc), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 974, 113 S.Ct. 1420, 122 L.Ed.2d 790 (1993), we conclude that the district court's findings regarding relevant conduct are not clearly erroneous. See United States v. Balano, 8 F.3d 629, 631 (8th Cir.1993). 36 The convictions of Dr. Jain and the Center for Mental Health Services, Inc., for violating the Medicare anti-kickback statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7(b), are affirmed. The district court's determination of relevant conduct for purposes of sentencing Dr. Jain for that offense is affirmed. Defendants' convictions for violating the federal mail fraud statute are reversed and the cases are therefore remanded for resentencing.