United States v. Dennis Bright

Appellant Dennis Bright pled guilty to five counts of mail fraud arising of a scheme in which Bright falsely offered nurses the opportunity to work at home processing medical surveys. Bright now appeals his sentence, claiming that the district court improperly calculated the amount of his victims’ total losses, resulting in a 10-level rather than a 9-level adjustment of his base offense. Bright also challenges the district court’s restitution order, arguing that the court improperly ordered restitution for dismissed counts and that the court should have made forfeited funds available for restitution.

We conclude that the district did not err in calculating the total loss or in ordering restitution for dismissed counts. We also hold that the district court was not required to attempt to transfer forfeited funds to Bright’s victims. Therefore, we affirm the district court.

I.

Beginning in July 1997, Bright, a registered nurse, owned and operated five busi nesses that purported to offer nurses the opportunity to earn extra income by processing medical surveys out of their homes. Bright sent letters to nurses throughout the United States, representing that (1) one of his five…