Burlingame

MEMORANDUM **

Daisy Burlingame appeals her conviction and sentence for her role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain “advance fees,” wherein potential borrowers were falsely promised multi-million dollar loans in return for upfront payments. A jury convicted Burlingame of ten counts, including conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering. Burlingame received a 63-month sentence. Appealing her conviction, Burlingame makes three arguments: 1) the district court’s jury instruction was defective on the good-faith defense to fraud; 2) the government improperly vouched for a key witness; and 3) the government’s expert witness impermissibly opined that Burlingame was guilty, and Burlingame suffered ineffective assistance of counsel by her attorney eliciting this opinion. 1 Regarding her sentence, Burlingame and the government agreed on appeal that it must be vacated and remanded for resentencing in light of Booker and Ameline.

We affirm Burlingame’s conviction and vacate her sentence and remand for resentencing.

*721 Jury Instruction

An allegedly improper jury instruction is reviewed for plain error, when there was no objection at the time of trial. Jones v. United States, 527…