USA v. Michael J. Brisson, 05-1540. Brisson commits tax fraud and bank fraud by purchasing a property with phony documents. The plea agreement consolidated the counts together using USSG 2B1.1 loss table to calculate the sentence.
The district court disagreed and calculated the tax and bank fraud separately to give the def a higher sentence.
Held: The 7th Circuit agrees with the district court. There is no automatic grouping under 3D1.2. Here since there was no necessary connection between the def’s fraud on his bank and the bilking of the government the district court did not err in refusing to group the offenses.
For the full opinions visit the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Web Site.
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