United States v. Richard Leonard

MEMORANDUM

Richard Leonard 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. § 371 and to willfully attempting to evade assessment and payment of individual income taxes in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 . “Provided that it is within the bounds of the statutory framework, a restitution order is reviewed for abuse of discretion.” United States v. Brock-Davis, 504 F.3d 991, 996 (9th Cir.2007) (citations omitted).

1. Leonard argues that the district court improperly relied on the “bank deposits” method of determining the amount of distributions made to Leonard and his co-conspirators. “The critical question is whether the government’s investigation has provided sufficient evidence to support an inference that an unexplained excess in bank deposits is attributable to taxable income.” United States v. Stone, 770 F.2d 842, 844-45 (9th Cir.1985). “The adequacy of a bank deposits investigation necessarily turns on its own circumstances.” Id. at 845 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Here, although some records from the overseas bank in which relevant deposits were…