USA. v. Godwin

• Citation: 272 F.3d 659
• Decision Date: 02 March 2001
• Docket Number: N,CURRY-ROBINSO,No. 00-4094,00-4094
• Parties: (4th Cir. 2001) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GEORGE B. GODWIN, JR., Defendant-Appellant. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WILLA L.efendant-Appellant. o. 00-4520 Argued:
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)

Page 659

272 F.3d 659 (4th Cir. 2001)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. GEORGE B. GODWIN, JR., Defendant-Appellant.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WILLA L. CURRY-ROBINSON,Defendant-Appellant.

No. 00-4094, No. 00-4520

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Argued: March 2, 2001

Decided: November 27, 2001

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Newport News. Rebecca B. Smith, District Judge.

(CR-99-32)

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] COUNSEL ARGUED: Stanley E. Sacks, SACKS & SACKS, Norfolk, Virginia; Terry Noland Grinnalds, Hampton, Virginia, for Appellants. Alan Mark Salsbury, Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Helen F. Fahey, United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before NIEMEYER, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge King wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge Niemeyer joined. Judge Michael wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

KING, Circuit Judge:

Defendants George B. Godwin, Jr. and Willa L. Curry-Robinson appeal their convictions and sentences on multiple charges relating to a pyramid scheme that defrauded investors in a purported oil-trading venture. Godwin and Curry-Robinson contend, inter alia, that there was insufficient evidence to support their convictions, that certain evidence was improperly admitted against them, and that their sentences contravene the Sentencing Guidelines. Moreover, they assert that the district court assumed an improper prosecutorial role, denying them a fair trial. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the convictions and sentences.

I.

A.

In April 1999, a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned a thirteen-count indictment against Godwin and CurryRobinson. They each were charged with three counts of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. S 1341, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C. S 1956(h). Additionally, Curry-Robinson was charged with six counts of money laundering, in violation of S 1956(a)(1)(A)(i), and three counts of making false declarations in a bankruptcy case under 18 U.S.C. S 152(3).

In September 1999, after a six-day trial, a jury convicted Godwin and Curry-Robinson on all charges. Curry-Robinson subsequently moved for a new trial, contending that the judge's questioning of witnesses, particularly during Curry-Robinson's testimony, denied her a fair trial. The district court rejected these allegations, and in March 2000 it denied the motion. On July 6, 2000, the court imposed sentences of sixty months' imprisonment on Godwin and ninety-seven months' imprisonment on Curry-Robinson. The defendants filed timely notices of appeal, and we possess jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1291.

B.

Between 1990 and 1998, Godwin and Curry-Robinson sought investors in Case Oil Corporation, a Virginia entity founded by Godwin.¹ Godwin acted as Case Oil's president, while Curry-Robinson served as its agent. They advised prospective investors that money invested in Case Oil would be used to fund its business operations, including the construction of oil pipelines and the development of oil refineries. The defendants stated in letters to investors that Case Oil was an international business that had liquid assets of more than $40 million and contracts in excess of $250 million.² They also claimed that Case Oil had contracts with several countries to construct chemical plants. Godwin and Curry-Robinson asserted, in written and oral communications with investors, that Case Oil supplied jet fuel oil to several major airlines, that investors would receive an ownership interest in Case Oil, and that the defendants, their family members, and their acquaintances had already made large sums of money from investing in Case Oil.

For example, Curry-Robinson falsely advised prospective investor Artistine Lethcoe-Reid that Curry-Robinson's aunt had made $90,000 from a $2,500 Case Oil investment in a short period of time. LethcoeReid did invest in Case Oil, but when she attempted to retrieve her money, Curry-Robinson offered excuse after excuse. After LethcoeReid indicated that she was desperate for funds for her daughter's wedding, Curry-Robinson promised to meet her and give her money, but failed to appear for the rendezvous. Other investors describe being similarly put off by a multitude of excuses: Curry-Robinson's sister was ill; she had been out of town; she needed permission to cut the check; the check was being processed; the check had not been divided for enough parties; the money had to be transferred in increments for tax reasons; the bank was having trouble handling such a large amount of money; or the money was in, but they were busy distributing it. When investors demanded funds, Curry-Robinson would maintain that the check would be ready "next Wednesday," or "next month," or "in a few days." E.g., J.A. 62, 82, 170, 201, 255, 265, 280, 309, 359, 381, 406. Moreover, the evidence established that Case Oil investors generally had trouble contacting Curry-Robinson, while she promptly returned calls from prospective investors.

Curry-Robinson personally guaranteed the investments in Case Oil, and both defendants represented that such investments would earn interest at high rates of return, typically between 50% and 300% within thirty days to two years from the time of investment. As part of the "guaranteed" investments, Curry-Robinson wrote post-dated checks for investors to hold as security. When an investor attempted to negotiate such a check, however, he would find that it was written on a closed or insufficient funds account. Some investors liquidated legitimate investment holdings in order to generate money to give to Curry-Robinson and Godwin. One investor drew on her grandchildren's savings account, while another lost money intended for her niece. A third investor turned over funds meant to pay off his house, and yet another, Geoffrey Lawrence, gave Godwin and CurryRobinson an inheritance from his mother. When Lawrence died, Godwin and Curry-Robinson attended the funeral and both advised his widow, Areather Lawrence, not to worry because she and her daughter would be taken care of. Ms. Lawrence had always been suspicious of her husband's investment in Case Oil, and Curry-Robinson repeatedly assured her that it was "not a scam." When the widow had trouble paying her rent, Godwin wrote letters to her landlord and her prospective housing lender, confirming that Ms. Lawrence was entitled to funds due her husband and promising that money would be forthcoming in thirty days. In reality, Ms. Lawrence received "not one dime" from the defendants after her husband's death. J.A. 139. CurryRobinson solicited her friends, co-workers, even her ailing hairdresser, to contribute to the fraud scheme. When Curry-Robinson appealed to the hairdresser, Brenda Outlaw, for a second investment, claiming desperate need, Outlaw turned over another $4,000, despite Curry-Robinson's failure to render the promised profit -or even to return the face amount -on the first sum of money invested.

Significantly, the defendants conceded in separate statements to the FBI, which were introduced against them at trial, that (1) Case Oil had no income and essentially no assets, (2) it maintained no books or records, and (3) it had never successfully consummated a business deal. Case Oil's legal address had no facsimile machine, and its sole assets consisted of some documents at Curry-Robinson's residence. Case Oil had never filed an income tax return, and the defendants rationalized this illegal act to the FBI as being due to its failure to make a profit.

An investigating FBI Agent, having reviewed the defendants' bank records, testified at trial that Godwin and Curry-Robinson had not invested any of the money that they had solicited for the benefit of Case Oil, but instead had diverted the funds for their personal use. Case Oil never successfully entered into or brokered a contract for an oil refinery, pipeline, or any other venture. The evidence also demonstrated that funds received from new investors were occasionally used to make "interest" (or, more accurately, "lulling") payments to earlier investors, in order to dispel complaints and to maintain the scheme. On at least three occasions, these lulling payments were made when the investor threatened legal action. Godwin and Curry-Robinson's conduct in the Case Oil scam, as alleged and as proven to the jury, constituted what is commonly referred to as an illegal pyramid (or Ponzi) scheme.³ Additionally, Curry-Robinson filed two voluntary personal bankruptcy petitions in which she signed a declaration under penalty of perjury that her answers were accurate. In neither of these petitions did she include the monies she received from investors and kept for herself, nor, in the second petition, did she list her personal financial accounts into which she had deposited those funds. In total, twenty-nine of the thirty-two investors testified as Government witnesses at trial. These investors delivered over $400,000 to Godwin and Curry-Robinson for investments in Case Oil, of which approximately $350,000 was never returned. The defendants obtained investments in part by falsely claiming that contracts and assets belonging to unrelated entities -Case Energy and Case Laboratories -were those of Case Oil Corporation. Rabi Satyal, a purported partner in Case Oil, had prepared documents for an unrelated entity, Case Energy, that were altered to appear to be records of Case Oil. Satyal had not known Godwin and Curry-Robinson were soliciting investors for Case Oil, and he testified that they failed to follow through on the one possible business deal of Case Oil that progressed to the stage of a memorandum of understanding.

The Government presented a total of...