Opinion ID: 216062
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Leadership Enhancement

Text: Borrasi next argues that the district court was not justified in assessing a four-level leadership enhancement against him while assessing only a two-level enhancement against Mamoon. The district court increased Borrasi's offense level under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a) after finding that he was an organizer or leader of Integrated and Rock Creek's criminal activities. Borrasi argues that the court did not consider the appropriate enhancement factors on the record. He also argues that he was only a middleman between the Integrated physicians and the Rock Creek hierarchya hierarchy that included Mamoon, who Borrasi venomously asserts should have borne the brunt of any leadership enhancement. We review the district court's factual finding regarding the four-level enhancement for clear error, and Borrasi's arguments do not leave us with a firm and definite conviction that an error has been made. Tanner, 628 F.3d at 907. The court explicitly adopted the PSR's assessment of the leadership enhancement. The PSR examined seven factors relevant in determining Borrasi's role in this criminal scheme, see United States v. Curb, 626 F.3d 921, 924-25 (7th Cir.2010), and concluded that each supported the enhancement in this case. Of particular note, Borrasi actively recruited physicians into his scheme, controlled the Integrated physicians, solidified and expanded the relationship between Integrated and Rock Creek, and established Baig's role in Rock Creek's admissions department to facilitate the scheme. See United States v. House, 110 F.3d 1281, 1284 (7th Cir.1997) (affirming organizer and leader enhancement where the appellant was the common connection between the criminals, where he brought . . . people together, both individually and as a group, to further the business of the conspiracies, and where he had substantial decision-making authority). Although the district court assessed only a two-level enhancement to Mamoon, Rock Creek's CEO, her actual role in the fraudulent scheme was less extensive and fundamental than Borrasi's. We conclude that the district court did not clearly err in assessing a four-level enhancement to Borrasi based on his role in the offense.