Banaga

MEMORANDUM **

Josefina Banaga (“Banaga”) appeals her jury conviction and sentence for health care fraud and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1347 and 2. The parties are familiar with the facts of this case, and we repeat them only to the extent necessary to understand our disposition. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742 and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm Banaga’s conviction, but vacate and remand for re-sentencing.

Banaga claims (1) that the prosecutor committed misconduct through several assertions in his closing argument and (2) that the district court erred in sentencing.

During closing argument, “[prosecutors have considerable leeway to strike ‘hard blows’ based on the evidence and all reasonable inferences from the evidence.” United States v. Henderson, 241 F.3d 638, 652 (9th Cir.2000). The evidence showed that the Explanations of Benefits forms were mailed to Banaga at the correct address. From this, it was not an unreasonable leap of logic to say she received them, read them, and knew about the billing irregularities reflected in them. Thus, we find no prosecutorial misconduct here, and certainly no plain error. See United States v.…