Court Opinion

ID: 9441640
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 17:59:10.436442+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:32.819973
License: Public Domain

O’BRIEN, J.,
concurring.
I join the Order and Judgment, but write separately to commend the district court for its resolve1 in imposing condign punishment. It appears Thompson is a confirmed grifter.2 Between January 2006 and May 2008 she and her confederates obtained about $1,661,495 from “investors” and returned approximately $191,700 to those “investors.”3 Fleecing the lambs was accomplished by lying, cheating and stealing.
And true to the grifter’s art, when called to account Thompson resorted to familiar tactics: first, deny; if denial is unavailing then minimize; if that fails then blame others, offer excuses, and, finally, marshal chutzpah and make an unflattering appeal for mercy. It worked in the past,4 but the district court would have none of it here, resulting in this improbable appeal. The Order and Judgment concludes the sentence imposed was not an abuse of discretion. I would go further. Thompson received perhaps less, but certainly not more, than she deserved.

. "I would invoke those who fill the seats of justice, and all who minister at her altar, that they execute the wholesome and necessary severity of the law.” Daniel Webster. Abraham Hayward, Forensic Eloquence of America. — Webster’s Speeches, Vol. XII The Law Magazine or Quarterly Review of Jurisprudence, Aug. 1834, Art. VIII, at 136.

. This case was preceded by other fraud offenses as detailed in the Order & Judgment. The presentence investigation reports four aliases used by Thompson.

. On February 1, 2010, a default judgment was entered against the defendant in United States District Court, District of Colorado, Civil Action No. 08-cv-01088-MSK-CBS, for $1,373,995, "representing profits gained as a result of the conduct alleged in the Complaint, together with[ ]prejudgment interest thereon in the amount of $90,468.53 and civil penalties in the amount of $150,000.00.” In this case she was also ordered to make restitution. Fat chance. The "investors” are left to lick their wounds.

.She was well schooled by a history of lenient treatment.