United States v. Peterson

Charged with two counts of financial institution fraud, making a false statement to a financial institution, and bankruptcy fraud (18 U.S.C. 1344, 18 U.S.C. 1014) for submitting false documents concerning his sale of two Chicago properties and making a false statement to a financial institution that influenced a mortgage loan for one property, and with making false statements in his bankruptcy petition, 18 U.S.C. 152(3), Peterson pled guilty to one count of financial institution fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud. He was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment, and five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $166,936. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, upholding a two‐level enhancement under U.S.S.G. 2B1.1(b)(10)(C) because Peterson used “sophisticated means.” This case involved significant actions to conceal the trail of money and to obscure the identity of the provider and recipient of funds, distinguishing it from the typical mortgage fraud. The district court did not commit procedural error in failing to provide its reasons under section 3553(a) for imposing the discretionary conditions of supervised release at the sentencing hearing; the court incorporated those conditions directly from the PSR, explicitly adopting the PSR and its reasoning at that hearing. The PSR identified the section 3553(a) factors upon which the determination was made. View "United States v. Peterson" on Justia Law