United States v. Milton Vandevort

MEMORANDUM

Defendant Milton Lee Vandevort appeals his convictions and sentence for false oath in bankruptcy ( 18 U.S.C. § 152 (2)), fraudulent concealment of assets in bankruptcy ( 18 U.S.C. § 152 (1)), and unlawful monetary transactions in criminally derived property ( 18 U.S.C. § 1957 ). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the convictions and sentence.

1. The district court did not fail to instruct the jury on an element of the offense. The jury instructions tracked the text of 18 U.S.C. § 152 (1), which we have held is “quite easily comprehended.” United States v. Weinstein, 834 F.2d 1454, 1461 (9th Cir.1987). Moreover, “the instructions as a whole” were not “misleading or inadequate to guide the jury’s deliberation.” United States v. Hofus, 598 F.3d 1171, 1174 (2010). The jury was instructed that it could convict only on interests that “belonged” to Vandevort and that were “in” his “property.” We therefore conclude that the district court made no error because it did not misstate or omit an element of the § 152(1) offense. United States v. Peterson, 538 F.3d 1064, 1070 (9th Cir.2008). The district court did not abuse its discretion as to the precise…