Opinion ID: 3003706
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Imposing Restitution and Forfeiture

Text: Biks next argues that imposing restitution and forfeiture for the same crime is an improper double payment, 12 Nos. 07-3754 & 07-3781 which constitutes double jeopardy. But she did not raise this argument before the district court so we review her sentence for plain error. Gibson, 356 F.3d at 765. We have rejected the theory that forfeiture and restitution cannot be imposed for the same offense. See, e.g., United States v. Leahy, 464 F.3d 773, 793 n. 8 (7th Cir. 2006) (“[T]o the untrained eye, this might appear to be a ‘double dip,’[but] restitution and forfeiture serve different goals . . .”); United States v. Emerson, 128 F.3d 557, 566-67 (7th Cir. 1997) (rejecting the defendant’s argument that imposing forfeiture and restitution amounted to “double punishment”). Still, Biks contends that these cases were wrongly decided, and cites an Eighth Circuit case, United States v. Ruff, 420 F.3d 772 (8th Cir. 2005), in support of her argument that the overlap of the forfeiture and restitution amounts constitute double jeopardy and an improper double payment. Ruff presented a unique situation where restitution, which normally goes to the victim, was payable to a law enforcement agency. Ruff, 420 F.3d at 775. The defendant argued that the agency would also receive the proceeds from the forfeiture proceedings, thus creating double recovery. Id. As a result, the court remanded the case to the district court to determine whether the law enforcement agency received any of the forfeited funds, and, if so, to modify the restitution order to prevent double recovery. Id. at 776. Ruff did not question the district court’s authority to impose restitution and forfeiture; rather, the court was solely concerned with preventing double recovery for the law enforcement agency. Nos. 07-3754 & 07-3781 13 As we noted in Emerson, “forfeiture seeks to punish a defendant for his ill-gotten gains by transferring those gains . . . to the United States Department of Justice [“DOJ”],” 128 F.3d at 567-68, while restitution seeks to make the victim whole—in this case, the federal and state agencies that the defendants defrauded. Id. The victims here are separate entities from the DOJ, and Biks has not identified any real threat of double recovery. Furthermore, outside the rare occasion where the same party stands to benefit from both payments, Biks does not cite to any authority which holds that restitution must be offset by the forfeiture amount. Contra United States v. Hoffman-Vaile, 568 F.3d 1335, 1344 (11th Cir. 2009) (rejecting defendant’s argument that forfeiture should be reduced because she paid restitution); United States v. Bright, 353 F.3d 1114, 1123 (9th Cir. 2004) (rejecting argument that district court should have “offset his forfeited funds against his restitution obligation”). We see no reason to overrule Emerson, therefore we find no error in the district court’s forfeiture and restitution order.