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Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//April 21, 2020//

Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//April 21, 2020//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Hamza Dridi a/k/a Alex

Case No.: 18-3334

Officials: MANION, KANNE, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

From 2012 to 2015, employees of Elite Imports, a car dealership, engaged in a variety of fraudulent activities. For his involvement in these illegal schemes, one employee, Hamza Dridi, was charged with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d), and interstate transportation of stolen property, 18 U.S.C. § 2314. A jury found him guilty of both crimes. The district court sentenced him to 72 months in prison and ordered $1,811,679.25 in restitution.

Dridi now challenges his sentence and the restitution order, arguing that the district court—before sentencing Dridi and ordering restitution—should have made specific factual findings about Dridi’s participation in the conspiracy.

We agree with Dridi that the district court erred both by not making specific factual findings prior to sentencing Dridi and by not adequately demarcating the scheme before imposing $1,811,679.25 in restitution. But because only the second error affected Dridi’s substantial rights, we affirm Dridi’s prison sentence, vacate the restitution order, and remand the issue of restitution for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Affirmed in part. Vacated and remanded in part.

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.

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