Opinion ID: 182111
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: South Africa as a victim under the MVRA and VWPA

Text: Both the MVRA and VWPA contemplate that a court must or may order the defendant to pay restitution to a victim. 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(a)(1); § 3663(a)(1)(A). Both statutes define a victim as: a person directly and proximately harmed as a result of the commission of an offense for which restitution may be ordered including, in the case of an offense that involves as an element a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of criminal activity, any person directly harmed by the defendant's criminal conduct in the course of the scheme, conspiracy, or pattern. Id. § 3663A(a)(2); § 3663(a)(2). In its second order adopting the magistrate judge's report, the district court denied restitution under the VWPA on the ground that South Africa was not a victim entitled to restitution because it had failed to show that it had suffered any losses directly caused by the defendants' illegal scheme. We disagree. Relying on the magistrate judge's report and district court's order, the defendants contend that, even if South Africa had a property right in the lobsters, it is not a victim of the conspiracy because the conspiracy to which the defendants pleaded guilty did not involve the illegal harvesting of the lobsters, only their importation to the United States with the knowledge that the lobsters had been obtained in violation of South African law. We are not persuaded. The defendants need not have personally harvested the lobsters in order to have deprived the South African government of its property right in the lobsters. By smuggling the lobsters out of South Africa knowing that they had been harvested unlawfully, defendants deprived the South African government of its right to seize and sell the poached lobsters. The defendants' conduct facilitated the illegal harvesting of the lobsters by providing access to the United States market and enabled the poaching to go undetected by the South African government by, for example, off-loading the overharvested lobster at night, under-reporting catch amounts to South African authorities, bribing officials, and submitting false export documents. In doing so, the defendants' criminal conduct directly harmed the South African government, which in turn makes South Africa eligible for restitution under the VWPA and MVRA. See 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(a)(2); § 3663(a)(2). Because South Africa had a property interest in the illegally harvested lobsters and is a victim for purposes of restitution, we hold that the MVRA governs the restitution award at issue here.