10-1249 & 10-1956 U.S. v. Wright

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Criminally Derived Property
Sufficiency of the evidence

Where the defendant only paid $8,000 of criminally derived property to purchase a home, the evidence is insufficient to convict him under 18 U.S.C. 1957.

“We have previously held that for a § 1957 conviction to be proper, criminally derived property ‘must first have existed, and then at a later time, the charged party must have attempted to bring about or have actually brought about a transaction with it.’ United States v. Lee, 232 F.3d 556, 559 (7th Cir. 2000) (internal citations omitted). Here, property was criminally derived when Wright gave the drug money to Lando and Henderson. The transaction triggering a § 1957 violation occurred when Henderson handed over $8,000 of that drug cash to purchase 203 17th. The government now asks us to allow it to choose ex ante to ignore this transaction and wait for the proceeds to increase in value beyond $10,000 in order to charge Henderson. We decline the invitation. Because the financial transaction involved less than the $10,000 minimum the statute requires, Henderson’s conviction for violating § 1957 must be set aside.”

Affirmed in part and Reversed in part.

10-1249 & 10-1956 U.S. v. Wright

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Bucklo, J., Evans, J.

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