Opinion ID: 8410694
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Collateral Challenges to Convictions and Sentences

Text: On July 15, 2015, Baran moved pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for vacatur of her conviction based on ineffective assistance  of counsel. The motion made no challenge to any part of Baran's sentence. Specifically, it did not challenge restitution although the RRB had, by then, taken the aforementioned action on disability pension reapplications. The district court denied Baran's § 2255 motion on January 5, 2016. See Baran v. United States , 160 F.Supp.3d 591 , 594 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). Baran did not appeal.
On October 2 and 13, 2015, Lesniewski and Rutigliano respectively moved for a new trial under Fed. R. Crim. P. 33, arguing that the RRB's approval of the vast majority of reapplications for disability pension benefits was newly discovered evidence showing that there was no fraud in the original applications. Alternatively, they moved for resentencing under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 on the ground that the RRB's approval of reapplications showed that the district court had based defendants' original sentences-both their incarceratory and non-incarceratory components-on erroneously high loss calculations. On November 25, 2015, Ajemian also cited the RRB's approval of reapplications to move for vacatur of his conviction and resentencing pursuant to § 2255. On March 4, 2016, the district court denied Rutigliano's and Lesniewski's Rule 33 motions, see United States v. Rutigliano , 168 F.Supp.3d 661 , 667 (S.D.N.Y. 2016), which denials this court subsequently affirmed, see United States v. Rutigliano, 694 Fed.Appx. 19 , 22, 24 (2d Cir. 2017). On March 18, 2016, the district court denied Ajemian's § 2255 motion for vacatur of conviction, see Ajemian v. United States , 171 F.Supp.3d 206 , 209, 215 (S.D.N.Y. 2016), and on June 21, 2016, it denied all defendants' § 2255 challenges to the incarceratory parts of their sentences, explaining that the alleged reduction in actual loss to the RRB was immaterial because defendants' Guidelines ranges were properly calculated by reference to intended loss, see United States v. Ajemian , 193 F.Supp.3d 298 , 302-03 (S.D.N.Y. 2016), aff'd sub nom . United States v. Rutigliano , 694 Fed.Appx. 19 (2d Cir. 2017). 1 Nevertheless, recognizing that restitution may only be ordered with respect to actual loss, the district court directed the parties to submit additional briefing on the question of whether the RRB's reapplication approvals in fact showed that it suffered a lower actual loss amount than had been thought at the original sentencing. See id. at 303-04. Approximately two weeks earlier, on June 3, 2016, Baran had advanced essentially the same arguments as Rutigliano, Ajemian, and Lesniewski to move for resentencing pursuant to either § 2255 or a writ of error coram nobis under 28 U.S.C. § 1651 . The district court denied the motion on June 29, 2016, to the extent Baran challenged her incarceratory sentence, but directed that she too file supplemental briefing on whether a reduction in restitution was warranted. See United States v. Baran, 192 F.Supp.3d 496 , 501-03 (S.D.N.Y. 2016). On November 1, 2016, the district court granted all four defendants' § 2255 motions in part, amending their original judgments of conviction to reduce their restitution obligations by the amounts of all pre-termination disability pension benefits paid  to individuals whose benefits reapplications the RRB had thereafter approved. See United States v. Ajemian , 2016 WL 6820730 , at -4. The district court reasoned that the reapplication approvals were based on current and reliable medical evidence that employees qualified for benefits without regard to earlier fraudulent submissions, and that the RRB was not entitled to restitution for past payments it was thus required to make in any event. See id. at . The district court explained that this reasoning did not apply to disability pension recipients who had not sought or obtained reapplication approvals and, thus, it rejected defendants' argument for vacatur of all restitution obligations. See id. at . Accordingly, the district court reduced defendants' restitution obligations as indicated earlier, so that Rutigliano was now obligated in the amount of $42,317,076; Ajemian in the amount of $53,494,797; Lesniewski in the amount of $34,237,476; and Baran in the amount of $21,467,954. See id. The parties timely filed these cross appeals, challenging only the district court's ruling with respect to the reduction of the restitution parts of defendants' sentences.