U.S. v. Blake

In prosecution on charge of tax fraud, Dist. Ct. did not err in imposing 36-month term of incarceration, after finding that defendant had total offense level of 24 based, in part, on its calculation that defendant had intended loss of over $1.5 million. Record showed that: (1) defendant requested four refunds of approximately $300,000 in first four years of tax scheme involving alleged hidden bank accounts for U.S. citizens called “legacy trusts” and using fraudulent information; and (2) defendant received $149,358 refund in fifth year of tax scheme, but was denied similar requests for refunds in three subsequent years of tax scheme. Dist. Ct. could properly calculate intended loss as total amount of refund requests, and Dist. Ct. did not err in finding that defendant was responsible for statements made in all tax returns at issue in charged offense. Ct. rejected defendant’s claim that he intended to only keep $300,000 of requested tax returns.