By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//August 14, 2013//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Sentencing – fraud — reasonableness
Where the defendant sought to defraud a city of $1.9 million in public housing funds, a 48-month sentence was not unreasonable.
“Rosen contends that the district court did not give proper weight to his family circumstances, advanced age, and poor health. On the contrary, the sentencing transcript in this case illustrates that the district court throughly considered all appropriate § 3553(a) factors in crafting Rosen’s sentence. The district court specifically noted Rosen’s advanced age and failing health, but also saw his crime as outrageous. Rosen sought to swindle an already impoverished City out of millions of dollars in public funding through an elaborate fraud scheme, couched under the guise of creating “affordable housing” for the benefit of the residents of East St. Louis. Rosen failed to rebut the presumption of reasonableness attached to his sentence, as such, we find no abuse of discretion.”
Affirmed.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Reagan, J., Bauer, J.