Opinion ID: 148698
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Defendants next argue that the government did not meet its burden of establishing that the clients who did not testify at trial were victims, because there was insufficient evidence to establish that those clients invested because of the criminal conspiracy. Defendants do not challenge that the nontestifying clients bought house stocks and suffered losses. Instead, Defendants argue that the district court could not have concluded, without more evidence, that those clients were victims of the conspiracy. We disagree. Defendants were convicted of criminal conspiracy to defraud clients specifically by recommending the house stocks; in the circumstances shown in this record, it is reasonable to infer that all clients of Defendants who purchased the house stocks were duped by the conspiracy. Except as described below, Defendants did not offer any evidence to rebut that inference. [32] Defendant Laurienti presented evidence that two of his clients were not victimized. In its briefing on appeal, the government concedes that the loss calculation should not have included those two clients’ losses. Appellee’s Br. at 91 n.33. 8846 UNITED STATES v. LAURIENTI We agree and hold that the district court erred by including those clients’ losses in the loss calculation. [33] Defendant Parker presented evidence that two of his clients suffered much smaller losses than the losses calculated by the government. In its briefing on appeal, the government admits that Defendant Parker’s calculations are correct: Two of his clients suffered smaller losses. Appellee’s Br. at 10405. We agree and hold that the district court erred by overstating the losses to those clients.