Opinion ID: 202631
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence on the Conspiracy Charge

Text: 39 Pesaturo also argues that the government presented insufficient evidence to support the conspiracy charge. To prove liability under 18 U.S.C. § 371, the government must show that two or more persons conspire[d] either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States . . . and one or more of such persons d[id] any act to effect the object of the conspiracy. Pesaturo argues specifically that there was insufficient evidence of an agreement between him and the drivers who sold untaxed kerosene to undercover IRS agents. However, Pesaturo errs in focusing solely on these sales. The taxable sales were made to numerous customers, by multiple Covenant drivers, and over an extended amount of time. 40 Pesaturo insists that neither mere employment in a common business enterprise, see Ingram v. United States, 360 U.S. 672, 677-80, 79 S.Ct. 1314, 3 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1959), nor mere association with conspirators, see United States v. Gomez-Pabon, 911 F.2d 847, 853 (1st Cir.1990), is sufficient to prove that an agreement existed on which the government could ground a conspiracy charge. The government's evidence established more than mere association. Testimony at trial established that Pesaturo controlled all business decisions at Covenant. He scheduled fuel purchases and deliveries, set the price at which fuels were sold, marketed the company's products, and even instructed the bookkeeper in how to account for sales of different products. 41 While the government did not present evidence of an explicit agreement between Pesaturo and his drivers, we do not require evidence of an explicit agreement to ground a conspiracy conviction. See United States v. Patrick, 248 F.3d 11, 20 (1st Cir.2001) (noting the well-established legal principle that a conspiracy may be based on a tacit agreement shown from an implicit working relationship). Given the extent of the evidence regarding the tax evasion, the small size of Covenant Oil, and Pesaturo's pervasive control over that enterprise, it is simply implausible to argue that the drivers were acting on their own.