Opinion ID: 2983027
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pertinent Loan Transactions

Text: Dobson argues that the district court erred by considering the uncharged and acquitted loan transactions included in the government’s loss summary exhibit because those transactions differed markedly from the gift-letter transactions for which Defendants were convicted. We disagree. The conspiracy count charged Defendants with a scheme to defraud in which they deceived mortgage lenders by creating the appearance through false closing documents, including gift letters, that the purchasers were providing their own down payments when, in fact, Southern was providing them. All of the transactions the district court considered were part of the scheme for which Defendants were charged and convicted. In each transaction, Southern provided funds for the down payment to the purchaser and hid this fact from the lender. Thus, 17 Nos. 14-5721/5722, United States v. Dobson, et al. the district court did not err in considering those transactions in calculating the amount of loss caused by the conspiracy. In addition, the law is well settled that a district court may consider both acquitted and uncharged conduct in determining a defendant’s relevant conduct, provided that such conduct is similar to the conduct underlying the offense of conviction and is established by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 157 (1997); see also United States v. White, 551 F.3d 381, 385 (6th Cir. 2008) (en banc) (“So long as the defendant receives a sentence at or below the statutory ceiling set by the jury’s verdict, the district court does not abridge the defendant’s right to a jury trial by looking to other facts, including acquitted conduct, when selecting a sentence within that statutory range.”); United States v. Maken, 510 F.3d 654, 658 (6th Cir. 2007) (“[R]elevant conduct is not limited to conduct for which the defendant has been convicted.”). Because the acquitted and uncharged mortgage transactions were similar to the conduct for which Defendants were convicted, the district court properly considered them in its loss calculation.