Opinion ID: 29550
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Goldberg: Mail Fraud

Text: Goldberg also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions. Goldberg was convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956. Goldberg makes the related arguments that the evidence failed to show that he possessed the requisite intent to commit mail fraud, and that since the offense of money laundering requires knowledge that the laundered funds are the proceeds of unlawful activity, he can therefore be found guilty neither of mail fraud nor money laundering. In addition, Goldberg maintains that the Government failed to prove that the funds transferred to the Cayman Islands were the proceeds of unlawful activity. A section 371 conspiracy comprises the following elements: (1) an agreement between the defendant and a co-conspirator to violate a law of the United States; (2) an overt act by one conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy; and (3) the specific intent to 19 further an unlawful objective of the conspiracy. United States v. Sharpe, 193 F.3d 852, 863 (5th Cir. 1999). The requirement of an agreement is the central element and the agreement, therefore, must be arrived at knowingly. United States v. Holcomb, 797 F.2d 1320, 1327 (5th Cir. 1986); United States v. Ballard, 663 F.2d 534, 543 (5th Cir. 1981). “[M]ere association with those involved in a criminal venture is insufficient to prove participation in a conspiracy.” Id.; United States v. Alvarez, 610 F.2d 1250, 1255 (5th Cir. 1980), aff’d 625 F.2d 1196 (5th Cir. 1980) (en banc). The existence of an agreement, however, may be proved by circumstantial evidence, see Holcomb, 797 F.2d at 1327, and even minor participation in the conspiracy may serve as the basis for a conviction. United States v. Prieto-Tejas, 779 F.2d 1098, 1103 (5th Cir. 1986). Moreover, in a conspiracy case: “[a]n agreement may be inferred from ‘concert of action,’” “[v]oluntary participation may be inferred from ‘a collocation of circumstances,’” and “[k]nowledge may be inferred from ‘surrounding circumstances.’” United States v. Lechuga, 888 F.2d 1472, 1476-77 (5th Cir. 1989). Inasmuch as the circumstantial evidence in this case tends to prove that Goldberg knew that Dr. Bieganowski’s clinics were engaged in fraudulent billing practices, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to establish Goldberg’s participation in the conspiracy. Goldberg’s affiliation with Dr. Bieganowski’s practice 20 far exceeded the limits of an ordinary professional relationship, and involved him in nearly every aspect of the operation of the clinics. He spent almost every afternoon at Dr. Bieganowski’s clinic and attended multiple meetings with the clinic staff, including meetings addressing such mundane administrative matters as employee dress codes. The evidence supports the conclusion that he was the de facto business manager of Dr. Bieganowski’s practice, with day to day supervision of and extensive familiarity with it. The fraudulent billing practices were widespread, pervasive and virtually continuous throughout the clinics. From an internal perspective, they were neither concealed nor secret. A portion of the Government’s conspiracy case also involved allegations that Dr. Bieganowski’s clinics knowingly obtained authorization for, provided, and billed for unnecessary services, including an expensive procedure known as a facet block injection. Although Goldberg maintains on appeal that he was not involved in the mechanics of creating bills or demanding payment, the record indicates that Goldberg was involved with efforts to obtain certification from insurance companies for these treatments. For example, he closely monitored those employees who were responsible for obtaining precertification for facet block injections, and he directed that the precertification quota for injections be increased, first from ten to fifteen patients per day, and later to twenty patients per day. An employee responsible for the 21 precertification of injections, Rene Moreno, testified that when she told Goldberg that patients were reluctant to receive the injections, Goldberg instructed her to do whatever was necessary to get the patients to the hospital. Although this evidence does not prove that Goldberg knew that any particular, single injection was not medically necessary, or that a particular precertification request contained fraudulent representations, it illustrates the extent to which Goldberg was involved in the preparation and submission of bills. More important, it, together with the other evidence, tends to support an inference that Goldberg knew that some bills contained fraudulent representations. The record also indicates that Goldberg was closely involved with Dr. Bieganowski’s solicitation efforts. He not only attended meetings with Robert Griego, Bieganowski’s telemarketer, but also reviewed the script that Griego used to solicit new patients. Goldberg knew that Griego told reluctant patients that they could increase their automobile-insurance settlements by generating higher medical bills, and he knew that Griego advised patients to obtain medical examinations even when those same patients told Griego that they were not injured. More important, when Griego suggested to Goldberg that Griego might have to begin staging accidents in order to meet his quota, Goldberg simply responded: “Well, you know, whatever you have to do.” Also damaging to Goldberg’s protestations of ignorance was the testimony of Rosa Cordova and Lucy Campos. Campos testified that 22 she had given Goldberg a copy of the Medical Fee Guidelines, a manual that contained the various CPT billing codes, further undermining Goldberg’s claim that he was not involved with creating bills. Cordova, an employee in the precertification department, testified that Dr. Bieganowski had directed her to generate false fee tickets and to submit fee tickets even when patients had left without being treated. When asked about how much Goldberg knew about her activities, Cordova replied, “[Goldberg] knew exactly what my job was and he wanted to make sure that I was doing it.” Further, Goldberg’s extensive efforts in setting up and overseeing an elaborate virtual labyrinth of bank accounts for Dr. Bieganowski’s clinics, which concealed both the clinics’ and Dr. Bieganowski’s relationship to the accounts and the ultimate disposition of the funds, is plainly suggestive of guilty knowledge. Goldberg correctly points out that each piece of evidence against him, viewed separately, may admit of an innocent explanation. That, however, is not determinative. As we observed in Lechuga, 888 F.2d at 1476: “the United States Supreme Court remarked long ago, ‘[c]ircumstances altogether inconclusive, if separately considered, may, by their number and joint operation, especially when corroborated by moral coincidences, be sufficient to constitute conclusive proof.’ Coggeshall v. United States (the Slavers, Reindeer), 69 U.S. (2 Wall.) 383, 17 L.Ed. 911, 914-15 (1865).” Thus, although no individual piece of evidence against 23 Goldberg is dispositive, taken together the evidence as a whole suffices to establish an adequately clear picture of Goldberg’s role in the conspiracy. The cumulative effect of this evidence is sufficient to support the inference that Goldberg was aware of the fraudulent billing practices, and we therefore decline to hold that the evidence was insufficient to support Goldberg’s conviction for conspiracy to commit mail fraud.