Opinion ID: 173374
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Counts XVI and XVII

Text: We also conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict as to the money laundering counts. In order to obtain convictions on Counts XVI and XVII, the government was required to prove: “(1) an actual or attempted transaction; (2) involving proceeds of specified unlawful activity; (3) knowledge that the transaction involves the proceeds of some unlawful activity; and (4) . . . knowledge that the transactions were designed in whole or in part to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activity.” United States v. Omoruyi, 260 F.3d 291, 294-95 (3d Cir. 2001). Count XVI alleged an August 14, 2002, transaction involving the 2001 GMC Denali, and Count XVII alleged a February 3, 2003, transaction involving the same vehicle. On appeal, Huggins first argues that the evidence did not establish that the money used for the two transactions was the proceeds of specified unlawful activity. Contrary to Huggins’s argument, the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s conclusion that the money used in the transactions was the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, namely violations of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. First, Agent Greene testified that Huggins told him during the interview that he spoke with an employee at 1800 Motor Cars and told him that he “had some cash that he needed cleaned up and he wanted to get a car.” (App. at 290.) The jury also heard evidence that Huggins was involved in distributing cocaine and 21 that his expenses greatly exceeded his reported income, and thus it could have reasonably inferred that income from the drug transactions was used to purchase the car. Second, Huggins claims that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that he knew the transactions were designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds used to purchase the vehicles. This argument also fails. Significantly, as mentioned above, Agent Greene testified that Huggins said he told the employee of 1800 Motor Cars, Malatesta, that he needed money “cleaned up” and that 1800 Motor Cars charged an additional $2,000 for this service. Second, Malatesta testified at trial that 1800 Motor Cars falsified the bill of sale for the Denali in order to conceal the fact that Huggins had paid over $10,000 in cash for the vehicle. Third, the jury also heard from Malatesta that Huggins directed 1800 Motor Cars not to put the title of the Denali in his name and, instead, to title it in grandmother’s name, and then, after she found out and objected, to place it in his father’s name. Further, Huggins’s father testified that he authorized his son to put the Denali in his name, but that it was Huggins’s car, that he did not make payments on it, and that he did not regularly drive it. After hearing this evidence, the jury could reasonably conclude that Huggins knew the transactions were designed to conceal the nature of the proceeds used to purchase the vehicles.7 7 Huggins’s reliance on United States v. Sanders, 928 F.2d 940 (10th Cir. 1991), is misplaced because the facts of that case were materially different. There, the defendant was convicted of two counts of money laundering based on two vehicle purchases. The Tenth Circuit found that the evidence was not sufficient to support the money laundering 22