Opinion ID: 701842
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Definition of Victim Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3664

Text: 48 In ordering restitution, a sentencing court shall consider the amount of the loss sustained by any victim as a result of the offense. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3664(a). Elliott and Melhorn contend that the district court erred by basing its calculation of victim loss on the claims of approximately 940 investors affected by the Elliott Enterprises Ponzi scheme. Elliott and Melhorn argue that the only losses that are relevant to ordering restitution are those sustained by the nineteen victims named in the indictment. We agree. 49 Effective November 29, 1990, Congress amended section 3663 to expand the definition of victim under the VWPA to include all persons directly harmed by a defendant's scheme or pattern of criminal conduct. 13 The acts for which Elliott and Melhorn were convicted ended in 1987, and they were sentenced in July, 1990. Because the 1990 amendment to the VWPA took effect after Elliott and Melhorn had completed their offenses, and because the amendment increases the applicable penalty for those offenses, retroactive application of the amendment would violate the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto laws. United States v. Lightsey, 886 F.2d 304, 305 (11th Cir.1989) (per curiam); see also United States v. Streebing, 987 F.2d 368, 376 (6th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2933, 124 L.Ed.2d 683 (1993). 50 Consequently, their restitution is governed, not by the 1990 amendment to the VWPA, but by the Supreme Court's decision in Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411, 110 S.Ct. 1979, 109 L.Ed.2d 408 (1990). In Hughey, the Court held that the language and structure of the [VWPA] make plain Congress' intent to authorize an award of restitution only for the loss caused by the specific conduct that is the basis of the offense of conviction. Id. at 413, 110 S.Ct. at 1981; see United States v. Apex Roofing of Tallahassee, Inc., 49 F.3d 1509, 1513 (11th Cir.1995) (per curiam); United States v. Cobbs, 967 F.2d 1555, 1558 (11th Cir.1992) (per curiam). Applying the rule in Hughey to the facts in this case, we conclude that restitution must be limited to the losses attributable to the nineteen victims named in the government's amended indictment. 14 Thus, we vacate the district court's order on remand to the extent that its calculation of victim loss includes claims by persons not named in the Amended Indictment. 51