United States v. John Lipton

MEMORANDUM

John Lipton appeals a $2,915,427.16 restitution order, imposed after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States of tax revenue in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 871 and to willfully attempting to evade assessment and payment of individual income taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 . He argues that the district court abused its discretion by holding him jointly and severally liable with his coconspirators for the full amount of tax loss caused by the conspiracy.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 8664 (h), the district court had the discretion either to “make each defendant liable for payment of the full amount of restitution or ... apportion liability among the defendants to reflect the level of contribution to the victim’s loss and economic circumstances of each defendant.” The district court expressly noted its discretion under the statute and chose to impose the full amount of restitution upon Lipton. The court noted that Lipton was not just a participant in the conspiracy, but was a manager and likely a leader. These observations are supported by the record; the district court therefore did not abuse its discretion by imposing the full amount of restitution upon…