U.S. v. Peterson

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 24-month term of incarceration, as well as five-year term of supervised release, after defendant pleaded guilty to one count of financial institution fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud, where said sentence was based on imposition of two-level enhancement under section 2B1.1(b)(10)(C) because defendant had used “sophisticated means” to accomplish financial institution fraud. While defendant argued that bank institution fraud, which concerned purchased of home that eventually resulted in default on loan, was only “garden variety” fraud that did not warrant instant enhancement, record showed that defendant had engaged in substantial efforts to conceal source of down payment and kickbacks that were paid as part of fraud. Thus, defendant’s actions qualified for imposition of said enhancement, where defendant took significant actions to conceal trail of money and obscure identity of provider and recipient of bank funds. Also, Dist. Ct. did not commit procedural error when imposing terms of supervised release by expressly noting at sentencing hearing applicable section 3553(a) factors and adopting recommended conditions of supervised release and reasons for said conditions contained in presentence report, especially where defendant did not raise any substantive objection to said conditions during sentencing hearing.