02-1635 & 02-1636 U.S. v. D'Ambrosia

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“[I]n evaluating the extent of the defendants’ role in the tax conspiracy under º 3B1.1, we look not only to their participation in the tax conspiracy but to any other conduct relevant to that conspiracy.

“Here, there is no question that the defendants’ operation of a multi-jurisdictional offshore sports bookmaking empire is clearly relevant in assessing their role in the tax conspiracy. Pede and D’Ambrosia were the leaders of their respective businesses, Sports Spectrum and Gold Medal. They consulted with one another frequently and together made decisions affecting these businesses, including decisions on investing money in the scheme established and managed by Tedder. Specifically, the defendants conspired to evade taxes by placing the profits of Gold Medal in offshore bank accounts in nominee names and by using these nontaxed profits to fund Gold Medal’s ongoing operations-i.e., paying vendors and winning bettors. In doing so, they directed staff within their own organizations to transfer money to accounts controlled by Tedder and assigned accountant Randy Moreau the task of monitoring the deferred compensation accounts for them. Furthermore, as the district court noted, ‘[t]he tax shelters . . . were an integral part of the corporate structure [of the defendants’ gambling operation] . . . . Not only did the tax shelters increase the profits obtained from the operation of the illegal betting scheme, they helped hide the existence of the corporations from federal regulators because the [defendants] did not report the income from the corporations.’ That Pede and D’Ambrosia were neither organizers nor leaders of Tedder’s deferred compensation program is of no consequence. The tax conspiracy offenses address the extent to which each defendant used Tedder’s program to conceal from the IRS the income and assets they derived from Gold Medal’s operations. We, therefore, agree with the district court that ‘it is not determinative whether [the defendants] exercised a leadership role over David Tedder and his colleagues. [They] exercised a leadership role over the entire scheme, a part of which was to hide assets and income through an illegal tax shelter.’

“Therefore, whether the defendants’ wagering and tax conspiracy offenses are evaluated separately or grouped together, the result remains the same: the tax conspiracy offenses incorporate the defendants’ relevant conduct in operating a multi-jurisdictional offshore sports book betting empire, thus subjecting them to a four-level ‘organizer or leader’ enhancement under º 3B1.1(a).”

Affirmed.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Crabb, J., Manion, J.