Opinion ID: 2994533
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Loss Calculation for sec. 2F1.1(b)(1)

Text: When Arlen Amundson reached the sentencing phase of his case, Judge Adelman calculated the amount of loss caused by the scheme by taking the value of the properties and subtracting that from the aggregate loan proceeds. This yielded the estimated scope of the fraud perpetrated against the lenders. Judge Adelman then added in various administrative costs, and he finally gave Arlen a 1/3 deduction to reflect the fact that he was involved in only 40 of the 60 or so transactions. At that time, the best evidence available for the value of the properties was their 1996 assessed values, which were then adjusted by 5% to reflect 1997 value. This produced a net loss after all adjustments of $450,000 for Haehle after the 33% discount, or a total of $675,000 in value. By the time Haehle’s own sentencing hearing took place, newer appraisals of the value of the properties were available (in large part because the government went out and got them after Arlen’s hearing). Information before the court showed that the outstanding loan balances were $2.7 million; that all the loans were in default; that the City of Milwaukee had suffered $500,000 in expenses because of its receivership; and that the present value of the property was $1.8 million (a number that was generous to Haehle, as other evidence indicated a value of only $1.3 million). This produced approximately $1.4 million in loss, as indicated earlier. Haehle pitches his argument on the fact that Judge Clevert used different figures for the loss calculation than Judge Adelman had used. This is unfair, in his view, given the undisputed fact that both were on trial for exactly the same conduct. Unfair it may seem, but this is not the kind of problem that undermines an otherwise valid calculation of loss under the sentencing guidelines. We have often held that co-defendants have no enforceable right to have sentences that are precisely congruent with one another. See, e.g., United States v. Dillard, 43 F.3d 299, 311 (7th Cir. 1994); see also United States v. McMutuary, 217 F.3d 477, 490 (7th Cir. 2000). The only thing that matters is that the sentence complies with the guidelines, and Haehle’s did. We note that Haehle has not argued that the district court erred in applying sec. 2F1.1, the guideline for fraud and deceit crimes, rather than sec. 2X1.1, the guideline for conspiracy crimes. This is probably sensible, as the ultimate result (a base offense level of 17) would probably have been the same. Looking at U.S.S.G. sec. 2X1.1(a), we see that the base offense level for a conspiracy is the same as the level for the substantive offense, after adjustments are made for specific offense characteristics. Section 2X1.1(b)(2) then instructs the court to subtract three levels, unless the defendant or a co-conspirator has completed all the acts the conspirators believed necessary for the successful completion of the substantive offense. On this record, with some 62 completed transactions, it seems inevitable that the district court would have made such a finding, and thus that the offense level would have remained just where the judge put it, at 17.