Opinion ID: 3049934
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Guidelines Range Calculations

Text: On appeal Swann claims the district court improperly calculated his guidelines range because “[t]he court utilized a ‘net benefit’ approach instead of the amount of the alleged bribes in calculating the base offense level.” This is a challenge to the procedural reasonableness of Swann’s 102 months’ imprisonment sentence.123 As noted earlier, the bribery offense level is calculated using the greater of the value of the bribe payment or the benefit received in return. See U.S.S.G. § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A). “The value of ‘the benefit received or to be received’ means the 123 In reviewing the reasonableness of a sentence, we apply an abuse-of-discretion standard using a two-step process. United States v. Pugh, 515 F.3d 1179, 1189-90 (11th Cir. 2008) (relying on Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S. Ct. 586, 597 (2007)). First, we look at whether the district court committed any significant procedural error, such as miscalculating the advisory guidelines range, treating the guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to explain adequately the sentence. Pugh, 515 F.3d at 1190. Then we look at whether the sentence is substantively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances. Id. 145 net value of such benefit.” § 2C1.1 cmt. n.2.124 “The net value of the improper benefit need only be estimated, and the bribe amount should be used only when the net value cannot be estimated.” DeVegter, 439 F.3d at 1303. The net value “need only be a reasonable estimate given the information available to the government.” United States v. Cabrera, 172 F.3d 1287, 1292 (11th Cir. 1999).125 On appeal Swann does not claim that the bribe amount ($355,533) he received was greater than the net benefit amount (over $20 million) the contractordefendants received.126 Rather, Swann argues that, to use the net benefit approach, the government first must show a connection (i.e., a quid pro quo) between a 124 The Commentary to § 2C1.1 gives the following examples of net value: “(1) A government employee, in return for a $500 bribe, reduces the price of a piece of surplus property offered for sale by the government from $10,000 to $2,000; the value of the benefit received is $8,000. (2) A $150,000 contract on which $20,000 profit was made was awarded in return for a bribe; the value of the benefit received is $20,000.” U.S.S.G. § 2C1.1 cmt. n.2. The Commentary to § 2C1.1 also provides: “[F]or deterrence purposes, the punishment should be commensurate with the gain to the payer or the recipient of the bribe, whichever is higher.” Id. cmt. Background. 125 In United States v. DeVegter, 439 F.3d at 1304, this Court adopted the Fifth Circuit’s approach to calculating net value under § 2C1.1 as set forth in United States v. Landers, 68 F.3d 882 (5th Cir. 1995). The Fifth Circuit in Landers concluded that the profit on a contract, not the gross revenue or value, is to be used to determine net value. We stated in DeVegter, “[w]e agree with the Fifth Circuit’s approach [in Landers] which subtracts direct costs, but not indirect costs, from profits to determine the net improper benefit.” DeVegter, 439 F.3d at 1304. 126 Swann’s appeal brief refers to the $20 million as the “net benefit” and does not argue that the district court erred by using $20 million in its calculation of net benefit. Although the district court’s finding that the benefit was $20 million to the contractor-defendants appears to be based on gross revenue received by the contractor-defendants and not their net profit, other portions of the trial record amply support total profits in excess of $20 million to the contractordefendants RAST, PUGH, and FWDE, and thus a net benefit in excess of $20 million. This may be why no remand was requested on this issue. 146 particular bribe and a particular contract or action by a public official. Swann claims the government’s evidence failed to show the requisite causal connection. In this regard, Swann first argues there is no connection between the bribes he received and the contractors’ revenue because he had no authority to award the sewer or engineering contracts. Alternatively, Swann claims, “there was no tie or connection of any kind between any alleged bribe and any contract awarded even if Appellant Swann could have influenced the award of the contract.” Therefore, Swann says, “the proper loss amount to be utilized under § 2C1.1 was the amount of the alleged bribes paid to Appellant Swann and the court erred in failing to utilize said amount.” Swann points out that had the $355,533 bribe amount been used (as opposed to the $20 million benefit amount), the district court would have added only 12 levels (not 22) under § 2C1.1, resulting in a total adjusted offense level of 24 (not 34). This Court has not addressed what type of connection under § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A) the government must establish between the bribe given and the benefit received. Section 2C1.1(b)(2)(A) does speak in terms of “the value of . . . the benefit received or to be received in return for the payment . . . .” U.S.S.G. § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A). Other circuits have held that the threshold for establishing a causal connection under § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A) is low. See United States v. Sapoznik, 147 161 F.3d 1117, 1119 (7th Cir. 1998) (concluding that “[t]o show that the bribes benefitted the people paying them [the bar owners/illegal gambling], . . . it is enough for the government to show that the bribes facilitated the gambling operations”); United States v. Kinter, 235 F.3d 192, 198 (4th Cir. 2000) (stating “[t]he threshold for the causation inquiry for § 2C1.1 calculations is relatively low”). In Sapoznik, the Seventh Circuit explained that the question of causation between the bribe and the benefit is different from the question of quantification of the actual benefit received, concluding the government had established a causal connection between the bribe and the benefit even though it had not shown the precise amount of the benefit to the bribe-payor. Sapoznik, 161 F.3d at 1119. And the bribes need only contribute or facilitate the business activity involved. Id. Here, given the wealth of evidence in the record, we readily conclude the district court did not clearly err in finding that the benefits the contractors received (such as the RAST revenue from the $2.6 million change order, the RAST job rebid for an additional $23,837,350, and the PUGH time extension on the Vestavia Trunk Sewer Replacement project) were a result of the corrupt bribes to Swann. This amply satisfies any causal connection requirement in § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A).127 127 We review the district court’s findings of fact in sentencing for clear error. DeVegter, 439 F.3d at 1303. We do not find clear error unless “‘we are left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed. . . . [T]he clear error standard is purposefully deferential to the district court, . . . [but r]eview for clear error does not mean no review.’” Id. 148 Accordingly, we find no reversible error in the district court’s calculations adding 22 levels under § 2C1.1(b)(2)(A) to Swann’s offense level. The district court alternatively stated that even if it used the bribe amount approach and not the net benefit approach, it would vary upward from the lower range (51 to 63 months) urged by Swann based on “other factors in 18 USC Section 3553 that I am charged with the responsibility of weighing.” Therefore, we also conclude any error in the guidelines calculations as to Swann was harmless. See United States v. Barner, 572 F.3d 1239, 1248 (11th Cir. 2009) (“Where a district judge clearly states that he would impose the same sentence, even if he erred in calculating the guidelines, then any error in the calculation is harmless.”); United States v. Dean, 517 F.3d 1224, 1232 (11th Cir. 2008), aff’d, Dean v. United States, 129 S. Ct. 1849 (2009); United States v. Keene, 470 F.3d 1347, 1348-49 (11th Cir. 2006).