United States v. Paul F. Soares

On June 13, 1990, a federal grand jury returned a seven count indictment against defendant Paul Fairfax Soares. The indictment charged Soares with four counts of having received kickbacks “because of’ his fiduciary position as the investment advisor for an employee pension plan, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1954 (counts one through four), and with three counts of embezzling money from the same employee pension plan, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 664 (counts five through seven). After waiving his right to a jury trial, Soares was convicted on counts one through four and on count seven. Soares now appeals. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 3231 . We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.

I. Facts

Soares controlled a business known as Tamarack Associates (“Tamarack”). On June 1, 1984, Soares and Tamarack entered into a written agreement with the Sacramento Independent Hotel, Restaurant and Tavern Employees Pension Trust (“the Pension. Fund”), which was an employee pension plan governed by the Employee Retirement In come Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). The agreement made Tamarack the investment advisor for the…