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Sentencing — producing false documents

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 25, 2013//

Sentencing — producing false documents

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 25, 2013//

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — producing false documents

Where a conspiracy produced an estimated 7,000 phony identification documents, it was not error for the district court to enhance defendant’s sentence for producing more than 100 documents.

“The district court’s task at sentencing was not to divine how many customers Wang was aware of, how many of the forty-one indicted people Wang was personally acquainted with, or whether he knew the number of times the conspiracy’s members used each false document. Rather, the court could determine reasonable foreseeability based on whether Wang ‘“demonstrated a substantial degree of commitment to the conspiracy’s objectives, either through his words or his conduct.”’  United States v. Acosta, 534 F.3d 574, 585-86 (7th Cir. 2008) (quoting United States v. Zarnes, 33 F.3d 1454, 1474 (7th Cir. 1994)). The evidence before the district court was sufficient to find that Wang was fully committed to the conspiracy’s objectives. He transported customers, delivered false documents, collected payments, and, perhaps most important, facilitated the conspiracy’s continued existence by retrieving false documents for reuse. And he did this knowing that at least three others were also involved in the same scheme.”

Affirmed.

11-3363 U.S. v. Wang

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Darrah, J., Williams, J.

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