United States v. Joel Ward

MEMORANDUM

Joel Nathan Ward stole over $11 million of the $15 million entrusted to him by-investors. He pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and two counts of money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1957 . The district court sentenced him to 108 months in prison and ordered restitution in the amount of $11,300,501.53. Ward appeals his money laundering convictions based on the intervening Supreme Court decision in United States v. Santos, 553 U.S. 507 , 128 S.Ct. 2020 , 170 L.Ed.2d 912 (2008), and his sentence. We affirm.

I

Where a criminal defendant seeks the benefit of a change in the law that occurs while his appeal is pending, but he did not raise the issue in the district court, review is for plain error. See United States v. Turman, 122 F.3d 1167, 1169-70 (9th Cir.1997). In United States v. Van Alstyne, 584 F.3d 803 (9th Cir.2009), the Ninth Circuit interpreted the precedential impact of the Supreme Court’s fractured opinion in Santos . The court concluded that after Santos , the word “proceeds” in the federal money laundering statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1956 , means “profits,” rather than “receipts,” when interpreting “proceeds” as “receipts” would…