Mandatory Victims Restitution Act

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. LaTonya Foxx

Case No.: 22-1360

Officials: Rovner, Wood and Hamilton, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Mandatory Victims Restitution Act

LaTonya Foxx, in collaboration with two others, faced charges and was ultimately convicted for participating in a deceitful tax scheme. Foxx admitted guilt to one count of wire fraud and received a sentence of 18 months’ incarceration, along with one year of supervised release. Additionally, she was mandated to pay $1,261,903 in restitution. The scheme revolved around submitting falsified tax returns to illicitly procure refunds for both clients and the perpetrators. On appeal Foxx challenged the restitution ruling.

The court emphasized that the authority to grant restitution must be derived from a statute. In this instance, the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act permitted restitution for offenses related to wire fraud. It was underscored that restitution should only cover actual losses stemming from the specific actions constituting the offense, and the government had to substantiate these losses by a preponderance of evidence.

Foxx contended that the district court had not sufficiently outlined the scheme or made explicit determinations regarding whether the losses included in the restitution were connected to the same scheme for which she was convicted. However, the court found no fundamental flaw in the district court’s determinations and concluded that Foxx had failed to demonstrate a clear error. It was ruled that Foxx could indeed be obligated to compensate for all losses caused during the scheme, not solely those tied to the wire transactions to which she pleaded guilty. Consequently, the court upheld the restitution order.

Affirmed.

Decided 03/21/24

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