Court Opinion

ID: 9962451
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-23 17:01:21.522322+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:20:54.201803
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 23-11316    Document: 47-1      Date Filed: 04/23/2024   Page: 1 of 15

                                                    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                    In the
                 United States Court of Appeals
                         For the Eleventh Circuit

                           ____________________

                                 No. 23-11316
                           Non-Argument Calendar
                           ____________________

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                       Plaintiﬀ-Appellee,
        versus
        ELIZABETH GENNA SUAREZ,
        f.k.a. Elizabeth Mirson Suit,

                                                    Defendant-Appellant.

                           ____________________

                  Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Southern District of Florida
                    D.C. Docket No. 9:22-cr-80185-DMM-1
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        2                          Opinion of the Court                         23-11316

                                 ____________________

        Before ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, and GRANT, Circuit Judges.
        PER CURIAM:
               After appellant Elizabeth Genna Suarez used a credit card
        belonging to a nonprofit organization to pay for her personal ex-
        penses, a jury convicted her of three counts of wire fraud. On ap-
        peal, she challenges her convictions, arguing that there was insuffi-
        cient evidence of intent and that the jury returned an inconsistent
        verdict. After careful consideration, we affirm.
                                                I.
               The criminal charges in this case arise out of Suarez’s use of
        a credit card belonging to Piper’s Angels Foundation (PAF), a non-
        profit entity for which Suarez served as a board member. In this
        section, we introduce PAF and describe how Suarez, after marry-
        ing PAF’s founder, misappropriated its funds. We then review the
        procedural history of her criminal case.
                                               A.
              Travis Suit formed PAF in 2016 after his daughter, Piper,
        was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.1 PAF supports individuals who
        have cystic fibrosis and their families. It provides them with urgent

        1 In this section, we set forth the facts viewing the evidence in the light most

        favorable to the government and drawing all reasonable inferences and credi-
        bility choices in favor of the jury’s guilty verdict, as we are required to do. See
        United States v. Boffil-Rivera, 607 F.3d 736, 740 (11th Cir. 2010).
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        23-11316                   Opinion of the Court                         3

        financial assistance to cover rent, utility bills, car payments, or med-
        ical expenses. In addition, PAF provides scholarships that fund trips
        for people with cystic fibrosis to experience saltwater activities
        such as paddleboarding or surfing. Suit wanted to encourage those
        with cystic fibrosis to engage in these activities after he learned of
        medical research showing improved outcomes for cystic fibrosis
        patients who are exposed to salt air environments.
               To raise money to support these programs, since 2017 PAF
        has hosted an annual international paddleboarding event, known
        as the “Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis.” In the Crossing, participants
        paddle approximately 80 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Flor-
        ida. To participate in the event, paddlers donate money to PAF.
        The first paddler to complete the event in his or her age division
        wins a cash prize. Many paddlers who won these prizes ended up
        returning or donating the money they won to PAF.
                 The Crossing rapidly grew in size to become “the largest in-
        ternational paddleboarding event in the world.” Doc. 72 at 117. 2 In
        its first year, PAF raised approximately $130,000 from the Crossing.
        In 2019, PAF raised over $500,000 from the Crossing, with approx-
        imately $100,000 coming from corporate sponsors.
               PAF used a checking account at Bank of America as its oper-
        ating account. During the relevant period, Suit was the sole signa-
        tory on the account. When an individual with cystic fibrosis needed
        urgent financial assistance, PAF often would mail the person a

        2 “Doc.” numbers refer to the district court’s docket entries.
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        4                      Opinion of the Court                 23-11316

        paper check signed by Suit. Because these urgent needs could arise
        at any time, Suit often left a few signed blank checks with PAF’s
        employees when he was traveling. Bank of America also issued
        PAF a debit card for the checking account. But PAF rarely used the
        card, which Suit kept at his home.
               PAF also had a corporate credit card account with Chase
        Bank. Suit and two or three other individuals at PAF received cor-
        porate credit cards, which they used to pay for many of the organ-
        ization’s expenses, including those incurred in running the Cross-
        ing.
               In late 2017, Suit and Suarez, who had previously been
        friends, began a romantic relationship. Within a few months, the
        couple was engaged. In June 2018, Suarez participated in the Cross-
        ing and won her division. She received a $3,000 purse prize. She did
        not keep the money; instead, she donated it back to PAF.
              In October 2018, Suit and Suarez wed. After they married,
        Suarez took over responsibility for managing their household’s fi-
        nances as well as Suit’s personal finances. Suit gave Suarez the login
        credentials for his personal Bank of America account so that she
        could pay bills. The login also gave Suarez access to online banking
        for PAF’s checking account.
               Shortly after the wedding, Suarez became a PAF board
        member. She took the lead on recruiting corporate sponsors for the
        Crossing event. She also volunteered to maintain the organiza-
        tion’s books and track its financial transactions. Suarez requested
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        23-11316                Opinion of the Court                          5

        and received a PAF credit card from Chase. She was the only per-
        son who reviewed the transactions for her corporate credit card.
                 In 2019, PAF began to use APLOS, an accounting software
        program for non-profit organizations, to track its finances. APLOS
        allowed a user to code each expense transaction with a specific cat-
        egory for record-keeping purposes. PAF’s treasurer, Kathy Aponte,
        assisted Suarez in creating the categories for coding the organiza-
        tion’s transactions. The list of categories included payments for in-
        dividual grants, which was what PAF called the urgent financial as-
        sistance provided to individuals with cystic fibrosis and their fami-
        lies; travel; repairs; program supplies; office supplies; and meals. Af-
        ter Aponte created the categories, Suarez alone was responsible for
        coding individual transactions.
               In July 2019, Suarez used her PAF corporate credit card sev-
        eral times to pay for her personal expenses. On July 18, she used
        the card to pay $8,000 to the Center for Facial Restoration in
        Miramar, Florida, to cover the deposit for her future rhinoplasty
        surgery. On July 31, she charged $1,680.25 at New Age Dermatol-
        ogy, Inc., in West Palm Beach. This charge was for a laser skin re-
        surfacing treatment designed to create a younger-looking appear-
        ance for Suarez, as well as an anti-aging sunscreen that she pur-
        chased.
               On July 31, Suarez made two corporate credit card charges
        at stores at a Palm Beach Gardens mall. She used the card at Ham-
        ilton Jewelers to pay $802.50 to refurbish a necklace that was a
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        6                      Opinion of the Court                 23-11316

        family heirloom of hers. And she used the card at a Billabong cloth-
        ing store to purchase three pairs of men’s swim trunks for $188.17.
                Later, Suarez logged into the APLOS software to categorize
        these charges. She coded the charges from the Center for Facial
        Restoration and New Age Dermatology as “Grants-Individuals.”
        Doc. 35-16 at 2, 4. For the Center for Facial Restoration charge, she
        added a comment that the rhinoplasty was for “reconstructive res-
        piratory therapy.” Doc. 72 at 225. She coded the charge from Ham-
        ilton Jewelers as “Fundraising” and the one from Billabong as “Pro-
        gram Supplies.” Doc. 35-16 at 2.
               Besides using PAF’s credit card to pay for personal expenses,
        Suarez used other methods to take money that belonged to PAF.
        After marrying Suit, she regularly used his personal Bank of Amer-
        ica credit card for her personal expenses. She then used Bank of
        America’s online banking portal to transfer money from PAF’s
        checking account to pay the amount owed on the credit card ac-
        count. Over the course of a year, she spent $119,058 of PAF’s
        money to pay personal credit card charges.
               Suarez also used PAF’s debit card to purchase personal
        items. She used the card to purchase a mattress, which cost approx-
        imately $3,300, and to buy items from Amazon.
                In addition, Suarez wrote checks to herself from PAF’s
        checking account. In June 2019, while Suit was traveling, she took
        two of the signed blank PAF checks he had left in case urgent finan-
        cial assistance was needed for cystic fibrosis families in his absence
        and wrote them to herself in the amounts of $10,000 and $5,000.
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        23-11316               Opinion of the Court                         7

        On the memo line for one of the checks, she added a note to make
        it appear as though the check was the purse prize for coming in
        second place in her division at the 2019 Crossing event. Although
        Suarez had won $4,000 at the event, she had previously agreed that
        as a board member she would not accept any money.
               When Suit learned about the checks, he confronted Suarez
        over text message. She responded that she had written the checks
        to increase the balance in their personal bank account “to show in-
        come” for their home loan application. Doc. 35-1 at 1. She said that
        she had “already initiated transfer[s] back to PAF so it will be a
        wash.” Id. Suit responded, “So . . . you falsified our personal income
        with money from PAF to enhance our position in getting approved
        for a loan? Because if that’s the case, that was a serious lapse in
        judgment.” Id. at 2. Suarez replied, “I’m not sure why that’s such a
        horrible thing” because “people leverage their businesses that way
        all the time.” Id. at 3. She nevertheless apologized and promised,
        “[I]t will never happen again.” Id. at 5.
               Around the same time, PAF hired an outside firm, Temple-
        ton & Company, to handle its bookkeeping. When a PAF em-
        ployee gathered credit card statements for Templeton, she saw
        charges on the July 2019 statement for Suarez’s corporate card that
        appeared unrelated to PAF. The employee alerted Paul Smolchek,
        PAF’s president. Smolchek reviewed the company’s records and
        quickly identified over $48,000 in charges on Suarez’s corporate
        credit card that appeared unrelated to the organization. He initially
        confronted Suit. Based on Suit’s reaction, Smolchek was satisfied
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        8                      Opinion of the Court                 23-11316

        that he had no knowledge of Suarez’s misuse of the corporate
        credit card.
                Smolchek then confronted Suarez. When asked about the
        charge at Hamilton Jewelers, she responded that it must have been
        “a gift for a [cystic fibrosis] family.” Doc. 72 at 150. But she later
        admitted that “it was her necklace” and “she had made the charge.”
        Id. at 157.
               Suarez was removed from PAF’s board. The board then
        hired a forensic accountant, Jeffery Danik. As part of his investiga-
        tion, Danik interviewed Suarez twice. During those interviews, she
        admitted that she knew she could not use PAF’s credit card for per-
        sonal charges. She also admitted to making the purchase at Hamil-
        ton Jewelers.
               Danik ultimately determined that Suarez misappropriated a
        total of $158,960 from PAF. He provided her with charts listing
        every improper charge, purchase, or transfer he had identified. Af-
        ter reviewing these charts, Suarez told Danik that “everything . . .
        on these lists were her charges.” Doc. 73 at 105. She also stated that
        Suit “knew nothing about” her actions, saying he was “oblivious.”
        Id.
               After confessing to Danik, Suarez emailed PAF’s board to
        apologize for her actions. She promised to repay the organization
        and said that she was seeking guidance “to get [her] moral compass
        pointing due north.” Doc. 72 at 163.
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        23-11316               Opinion of the Court                         9

                                         B.
               The government charged Suarez with four counts of wire
        fraud arising out of her use of PAF’s credit card. Count One con-
        cerned the $8,000 charge at the Center for Facial Restoration,
        Count Two centered on the $1,680.25 charge at New Age Derma-
        tology, Count Three concerned the $188.17 charge at Billabong,
        and Count Four arose from the $802.50 charge at Hamilton Jewel-
        ers.
                Suarez pleaded not guilty, and the case proceeded to trial. At
        trial, the government’s witnesses included Suit, Smolchek, and
        Danik. The government presented evidence about the incidents
        when Suarez misused PAF’s credit card, transferred money from
        PAF’s checking account to pay Suit’s credit card balance, wrote
        checks to herself out of PAF’s checking account, and used PAF’s
        debit card to purchase personal items.
               Suarez testified in her own defense. Although she admitted
        to using her PAF credit card at the Center for Facial Restoration
        and New Age Dermatology, she denied acting with any intent to
        “defraud or take from” PAF. Doc. 47 at 80.
               According to Suarez, she could charge her rhinoplasty sur-
        gery to PAF because she needed the surgery to correct a breathing
        problem, and the surgery would allow her to participate in the
        Crossing in future years. She also testified she was permitted to
        charge the surgery to PAF because she was building a relationship
        with the Center for Facial Restoration in hopes of persuading the
        company to donate $100,000 to be the title sponsor for the Crossing
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        10                    Opinion of the Court                23-11316

        the next year. She said that Suit had told her to do “whatever [she]
        need[ed] to do to close sponsors” and had set an “example of doing
        business with sponsors and . . . building and maintaining those
        sponsor relations.” Id. at 77.
               She offered similar testimony to justify her use of PAF’s
        credit card at New Age Dermatology. She suggested that she could
        charge her laser facial treatment and sunscreen to PAF because she
        sustained “serious skin damage” from participating in the Crossing.
        Id. at 78. And she testified that she was permitted to charge
        amounts spent at New Age Dermatology to PAF because she “was
        hoping” to land the company as a future corporate sponsor for the
        Crossing. Id. at 79.
               Suarez denied using the PAF credit card at Hamilton Jewel-
        ers or Billabong. She told the jury that Suit had taken her credit
        card and made both purchases. When Suit testified, however, he
        denied making either purchase.
                The jury found Suarez guilty of the wire fraud charges in
        Counts One, Two, and Four. But it found her not guilty of Count
        Three, the wire fraud charge based on the Billabong purchase. The
        district court denied Suarez’s Rule 29 motion made during trial, as
        well as her post-trial motion for a judgment of acquittal. The court
        ultimately imposed a total sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment
        followed by a two-year term of supervised release. This is Suarez’s
        appeal.
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        23-11316               Opinion of the Court                        11

                                         II.
                We review de novo a challenge to the sufficiency of the evi-
        dence and the denial of a Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal.
        United States v. Chafin, 808 F.3d 1263, 1268 (11th Cir. 2015). We will
        affirm the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal if a reason-
        able trier of fact could conclude that the evidence established the
        defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v.
        Holmes, 814 F.3d 1246, 1250 (11th Cir. 2016). We view the evidence
        in the light most favorable to the government and draw all reason-
        able inferences and credibility choices in favor of the jury’s guilty
        verdict. United States v. Boffil-Rivera, 607 F.3d 736, 740 (11th Cir.
        2010).
               “We review de novo whether inconsistent verdicts render a
        conviction improper.” United States v. Green, 981 F.3d 945, 960 (11th
        Cir. 2020).
                                         III.
                Suarez raises two arguments on appeal. First, she argues that
        the evidence was insufficient to support her convictions for Counts
        One and Two, which concerned the credit card charges at the Cen-
        ter for Facial Restoration and New Age Dermatology. Second, she
        argues that the jury rendered an inconsistent verdict when it con-
        victed her of Count Four, for the charge at Hamilton Jewelers, but
        acquitted her on Count Three, for the charge at the Billabong store.
        We address each argument in turn.
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        12                     Opinion of the Court                 23-11316

                                         A.
               We begin with Suarez’s challenge to the sufficiency of the
        evidence for Counts One and Two. She argues that the govern-
        ment failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she acted with
        the intent to defraud. Instead, she maintains, the trial evidence
        showed that she honestly believed she could use the organization’s
        money for a rhinoplasty, a laser facial, and sunscreen because she
        was trying to secure sponsors for the Crossing.
                To convict a defendant for wire fraud, the government must
        prove, among other things, that the defendant had an “intent to
        defraud.” United States v. Watkins, 42 F.4th 1278, 1282 (11th Cir.
        2022). A defendant intends to defraud when she “attempts to ob-
        tain, by deceptive means, something to which [s]he was not enti-
        tled.” Id. (alteration adopted) (internal quotation marks omitted).
        “A jury may infer intent to defraud from the defendant’s conduct.”
        United States v. Maxwell, 579 F.3d 1282, 1301 (11th Cir. 2009). Evi-
        dence that a defendant personally profited from the fraud may
        serve as circumstantial evidence of intent. United States v. Bradley,
        644 F.3d 1213, 1239 (11th Cir. 2011).
               “Good faith is a complete defense to the element of intent
        to defraud.” United States v. Williams, 728 F.2d 1402, 1404 (11th Cir.
        1984). “[A] finding of specific intent to defraud necessarily excludes
        a finding of good faith.” United States v. McNair, 605 F.3d 1152, 1201
        n.65 (11th Cir. 2010).
               The jury reasonably could have concluded that Suarez
        acted with the intent to defraud when she used PAF’s credit card at
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        23-11316               Opinion of the Court                         13

        the Center for Facial Restoration to pay an $8,000 deposit for her
        rhinoplasty surgery and at New Age Dermatology to pay more
        than $1,600 for a laser skin resurfacing treatment designed to create
        a younger-looking appearance and an anti-aging sunscreen. Suarez
        admitted at trial that she made both of these credit card charges.
        Because these charges were for services or products that benefitted
        or would benefit Suarez personally and would not benefit PAF, the
        jury could infer that she acted with an intent to defraud. See Bradley,
        644 F.3d at 1239.
               True, Suarez testified that she honestly believed she could
        use the organization’s money to cover personal expenses so long
        as she was acting with the goal of securing sponsorships for PAF.
        But her testimony was directly refuted by Smolchek, who testified
        that PAF could not spend money to “buy” sponsorships in this way.
        Doc. 72 at 187. The jury was not required to accept Suarez’s testi-
        mony as true and instead could have made “adverse determina-
        tions about [her] credibility and reject[ed] [her] explanation as a
        complete fabrication.” United States v. Chalker, 966 F.3d 1177, 1188
        (11th Cir. 2020) (internal quotation marks omitted).
               Other evidence in the record also supported an inference
        that Suarez was not acting in good faith and instead intended to
        defraud. She admitted to Danik that she knew she could not use
        PAF’s credit card to pay for personal charges. Also, after making
        the charges at the Center for Facial Restoration and New Age Der-
        matology, Suarez coded the charges in PAF’s accounting software
        as individual grants. It was reasonable for the jury to conclude that
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        14                     Opinion of the Court                  23-11316

        Suarez purposefully mislabeled these expenses to make the charges
        look legitimate and to cover up her illegal actions. And her email
        to the PAF board apologizing for her conduct could be construed
        as an acknowledgment of wrongdoing and deceit. Moreover, alt-
        hough the government did not charge Suarez with any crimes
        based on the incidents when she repeatedly transferred money
        from PAF’s checking account to pay off a personal credit card,
        wrote herself $10,000 and $5,000 checks from PAF’s checking ac-
        count, or purchased a mattress with PAF’s debit card, the jury
        could have concluded that these similarly fraudulent actions were
        indicative of her intent to defraud with respect to the purchases
        made at the Center for Facial Restoration and New Age Dermatol-
        ogy. See United States v. Ramirez, 426 F.3d 1344, 1354 (11th Cir. 2005)
        (explaining that a defendant engaging in a similar act, even though
        uncharged, is “probative with regard to a defendant’s intent in the
        charged offense”).
                After reviewing the record, we conclude that a reasonable
        trier of fact could have found that the evidence established beyond
        a reasonable doubt that Suarez acted with an intent to defraud. We
        thus affirm her convictions on Counts One and Two.
                                          B.
               Suarez challenges her conviction on Count Four on a differ-
        ent ground. She says that the jury’s guilty verdict on this count was
        “inconsistent” with the not-guilty verdict on Count Three, and
        thus her conviction on Count Fourt must be set aside. Appellant’s
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        23-11316                  Opinion of the Court                               15

        Br. 1. But, as Suarez acknowledges, this argument is foreclosed by
        our precedent.
               Even assuming Suarez is correct that the jury rendered in-
        consistent verdicts on Counts Three and Four, we have long held
        that a guilty verdict on one count “must stand, even in the face of
        an inconsistent verdict on another count” so long as it is supported
        by sufficient evidence. United States v. Mitchell, 146 F.3d 1338, 1345
        (11th Cir. 1998). And Suarez concedes that there was sufficient ev-
        idence to support her conviction on Count Four. 3 So we affirm her
        conviction on Count Four.
               AFFIRMED.

        3 Even without this concession, we would conclude that there was sufficient

        evidence to support the jury’s verdict on Count Four. Although Suarez denied
        making the charge at Hamilton Jewelers and instead said that Suit was the one
        who made the purchase, Suit testified that he did not make the purchase. And
        both Smolchek and Danik testified that Suarez admitted to making the charge
        at the jewelry store. The jury could have resolved this conflict in the evidence
        by finding Suarez’s testimony not credible and concluding that she made the
        charge at Hamilton Jewelers. And for the reasons given in Section III-A above,
        the jury could have concluded that Suarez acted with an intent to defraud
        when she charged the cost of refurbishing her necklace to PAF.