U.S. v. Honarvar, 06-2713.
| Decision Date | 26 February 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 06-2720.,No. 06-2713.,06-2713.,06-2720. |
| Citation | 477 F.3d 999 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Sedighe HONARVAR, Appellant. United States of America, Appellee, v. Rahim Zamanian, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Kevin E. Vanderschel, Asst. U.S. Atty., Des Moines, IA, for U.S.
Before WOLLMAN, BEAM, MELLOY, Circuit Judges.
Rahim Zamanian and Sedighe Honarvar, husband and wife, appeal from guilty jury verdicts rendered on all counts on July 15, 2005. The couple was convicted of conspiracy, bank fraud, and making false statements for their scheme of fraudulently obtaining funds from various financing institutions. We affirm.
The following recitation of facts is stated in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict. United States v. Stevens, 439 F.3d 983, 986 (8th Cir.2006). Honarvar and Zamanian carried out a fraudulent scheme to obtain funds by completing applications for credit card accounts with false information regarding the nature of their income. For example, the couple would state income upwards of $80,000 on the applications when, in fact, their tax returns listed total income ranging from $1,919 to $25,700. And, they represented to low income housing officials and food stamp administrators on more than one occasion that they had little or no income. Once they were issued the credit cards, they transferred funds from the newly-issued credit card accounts to their pre-existing credit card accounts in order to make payments on those pre-existing accounts. They would then accumulate additional debt and charges on the cards. As a result of this scheme, the couple accumulated a large amount of credit card debt and subsequently discharged approximately $189,000 of credit card debt in bankruptcy court. The various counts for bank fraud and false statements for each defendant related to specific applications submitted by each individual for various cards, including applications for an AT & T Universal MasterCard, a Chase Manhattan Platinum MasterCard, and a Discover Platinum Card.
The jury convicted Zamanian and Honarvar on all counts. The district court1 sentenced Zamanian to twelve months and one day of imprisonment on counts one, five, six, ten and eleven, to be served concurrently; and ordered restitution in the amount of $45,501.47. Honarvar received a term of imprisonment of one day, with credit for time served on counts two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, and eleven, along with a program of home confinement for six months; and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $45,501.47.
On appeal, Honarvar contends that the questions regarding annual household income on the disputed credit card applications were too ambiguous to form the basis of prosecution for false statements, and that there was insufficient evidence to support the convictions on all charges. Zamanian likewise claims there was insufficient evidence supporting the convictions for bank fraud, false statements and conspiracy, and further claims that the judgment and sentence on both the bank fraud and false statement offenses violate the Double Jeopardy Clause.
Both parties challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on all counts. We review de novo the sufficiency of the evidence and view that evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, giving it the benefit of all reasonable inferences. United States v. Spears, 454 F.3d 830, 832 (8th Cir.2006). "We reverse only if no reasonable jury could find the defendant[s] guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. We do not weigh the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses. Rather "the jury has sole responsibility for resolving conflicts or contradictions in testimony, and we must resolve credibility issues in favor of the verdict." Id.
The crux of Zamanian's argument is that the government failed to prove that he acted with the subjective state of mind that makes an objectively false statement criminal, that is, that he knowingly stated his income at a much higher level than it actually was with the intent to defraud or influence the financial institutions issuing the credit cards. Honarvar advances a slightly different argument, claiming that the government failed to prove the falsity of the statements she made regarding her income on three credit card applications. She also claims, like Zamanian, that the government failed to prove that the statements, even if false, were knowingly false. Viewing the evidence as we must, and applying our strict standard of review, we disagree.
One version of why Zamanian and Honarvar chose their stated income on the credit card applications, and the reason advanced by Zamanian at trial,2 was that when they completed the applications they fully expected to make upwards of $82,000 in the stock market and in an overseas Iranian investment. That, however, is not the story the jury walked away with after the trial testimony. We cannot weigh the credibility any differently today. The government presented sufficient evidence that, in fact, Zamanian and Honarvar conspired and knowingly falsified income on the credit card applications in an attempt to increase the amount of credit extended so that they could continue the scheme of accumulating credit as alleged in the indictment. And, the jury heard evidence that the amount of income stated on a credit card application, although not determinative, definitely makes a difference in the amount of credit extended to that particular applicant.
Honarvar further argues that even though the government demonstrated that Honarvar indeed made inconsistent statements regarding income on credit card applications and actual income reflected on income tax returns, it failed to prove that one of those statements was true and the others false. Thus, according to Honarvar, all the government proved was inconsistency, not falsity. Given our standard of review, we do not follow this line of reasoning. The jury could decide for itself which evidence it found more persuasive and make a sound determination regarding the falsity of Honarvar's statements on the credit card applications at issue.
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