Opinion ID: 612373
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overpayment of Senate employees

Text: Fumo arranged to have a number of Senate employees under his control classified at higher salary grades than they were entitled to be based on their duties and qualifications. In order to calculate the losses attributable to this fraud, the Government reviewed the human resources manual to determine the proper classification for each employee based on testimony about the work they actually performed and then calculated the loss to the Senate as the difference between the highest salary each could possibly have been entitled to and the salary each actually received, for a total of approximately $1 million. At the sentencing hearing, Fumo did not dispute the type of work the employees actually performed or the 36 salaries that they actually received. Instead, he argued that the calculations were too speculative because the Chief Clerk of the Senate could not confirm them and because the Senate had failed to fire or reclassify these employees after the fact, implying that the original classifications were somehow justified. Agreeing with Fumo, the District Court excluded the Government‟s proposed loss altogether. Of course, the Government bears the burden of establishing, by a preponderance of the evidence, the amount of loss. United States v. Jimenez, 513 F.3d 62, 86 (3d Cir. 2008). However, although “the burden of persuasion remains with the Government, once the Government makes out a prima facie case of the loss amount, the burden of production shifts to the defendant to provide evidence that the Government‟s evidence is incomplete or inaccurate.” Id. In making a loss calculation, “[t]he court need only make a reasonable estimate of the loss.” United States v. Ali, 508 F.3d 136, 145 (3d Cir. 2007) (quoting U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1, Application Note 3(C)). Here, the Government made out a prima facie case of the loss amount, and in response Fumo made only the most minimal showing of “inaccuracy” in the Government‟s calculations. In fact, Fumo never really challenges the substance of the Government‟s calculations, instead relying on surrounding circumstances to cast speculative doubt on them. Yet it is not surprising that the Chief Clerk of the Senate, who had not reviewed in detail the evidence concerning each employee‟s duties, declined to take a position on the stand as to the accuracy of the Government‟s calculations. And the Senate‟s decision not to reclassify certain of the employees involved could have been prompted by any manner of reasoning or purposes. Although it is possible that the Government made errors in the course of its calculations, there is no reason to think that its figure was not a “reasonable estimate” of the loss, established by a preponderance of the evidence. Accordingly, after reviewing the District Court‟s grounds for rejecting the Government‟s prima facie showing of the loss amount, we are left with “the 37 definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” United States v. Grier, 475 F.3d 556, 570 (3d Cir. 2007) (en banc) (internal quotation omitted). Further, because the difference in the loss would place Fumo into a higher offense level, the error was not harmless.