U.S. v. Sanchez, 84-5914

• Decision Date: 11 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 84-5914,84-5914
• Citation: 790 F.2d 1561
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Manuel SANCHEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1561

790 F.2d 1561

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Manuel SANCHEZ, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 84-5914.

United States Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit.

June 11, 1986.

Neal R. Sonnett, Benedict P. Kuehne, Bierman, Sonnett, Shohat & Sale, P.A., Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellant.

Leon B. Kellner, U.S. Atty., Mark Schnapp, David O. Leiwant, Nancy Worthington, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before FAY, Circuit Judge, HENDERSON ^* and NICHOLS, ^** Senior Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Manuel Sanchez appeals his conviction for conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

In 1981 the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) established an investment firm, Dean International Investments, Inc. (Dean), as the front for Operation Swordfish, an investigation into the laundering of drug proceeds in southern Florida. Dean was staffed by DEA agents and informants, and obtained clients through the contacts of these informants. Dean handled its clients' large cash transactions in its corporate name, thereby shielding these dealings from scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal law enforcement agencies.

Roberto Darias, a DEA informant employed at Dean, contacted Manuel Sanchez, an assistant vice-president of a Miami bank, in June of 1981. Darias described Dean as an investment firm capable of handling large cash transactions without disclosing the identity of its clients. He asked Sanchez to refer any bank customers who might need Dean's services. Sanchez met with other Dean employees on July 6, 1981 and had a similar conversation.

A few days later, Lionel Paytubi contacted Sanchez about a client who wanted to exchange a large amount of cash. Paytubi was a former banking associate of Sanchez but had been recently dismissed from his bank job for laundering drug proceeds. Sanchez declined the transactions for his bank, but referred Paytubi to Dean. A meeting took place on July 15, 1981, between Sanchez, Paytubi and Dean employees concerning the proposed transfer of cash. The parties discussed an initial amount of $1,000,000.00 and potential annual transactions of $40,000,000.00. During this and subsequent meetings, Paytubi mentioned that his clients' money probably was derived from the sale of illegal drugs.

Dean transferred $484,000.00 to Panama for one Paytubi client, Marlene Navarro, on August 14, 1981. Sanchez did not participate in this transaction, but did receive a referral commission. Navarro had further dealings with Dean throughout 1981 and 1982, but conducted her business directly with Dean without further participation by Sanchez. She admitted during these later dealings that her money in fact came from the sale of illegal drugs. In October of 1981 Sanchez arranged a cash transfer in which Dean exchanged $395,000.00 for a Miami businessman, Manny Fainstein. Sanchez arranged additional currency exchanges for Fainstein in early 1982, but did not notify Dean of the source of the currency.

Sanchez opened various corporate bank accounts for Dean in 1981 and 1982, all of which were supported by the necessary documentation.

On October 14, 1982, a federal grand jury indicted Sanchez for conspiracy to violate the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1952, and for a substantive Travel Act violation (the $484,000.00 Navarro transaction). A superseding indictment expanded the conspiracy charge to include a conspiracy (1) to violate the Travel Act, (2) to circumvent federal currency regulations and (3) to defraud the United States. After a jury trial, Sanchez was convicted of the conspiracy but was acquitted on the substantive Travel Act offense.

Sanchez primarily contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we view it in the light most favorable to the government and must then determine whether a reasonable trier of fact could have reached a conclusion of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence need not be wholly inconsistent with every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt. United States v. Sanchez, 722 F.2d 1501, 1505 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1208, 104 S.Ct. 2396, 81 L.Ed.2d 353 (1984). To support a conspiracy conviction under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 371, the evidence must show the existence of a conspiracy, that the defendant knowingly and voluntarily participated in that conspiracy and that an overt act was committed by at least one coconspirator. See United States v. Lignarolo, 770 F.2d 971, 978 n. 9 (11th Cir.1985). Where the conspiracy charge embraces multiple objectives, the evidence need only support one of the purposes of the conspiracy in order to sustain the conviction. United States v. Valdes-Guerra, 758 F.2d 1411, 1414 n. 3 (11th Cir.1985).

Sanchez concedes that a conspiracy existed and does not deny the existence of an overt act. He urges that the government failed to establish his knowing participation in the conspiracy. After reviewing the record, we find sufficient evidence of knowing participation to uphold the conviction for all three objectives of the conspiracy.

The first two goals of the conspiracy were to defraud the United States by impeding the investigation of large currency transfers and to circumvent the currency reporting requirements of 31 U.S.C. Secs. 1081-1083 (now codified at 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5313). Since the sole motive for Sanchez's referrals to Dean was to evade these reporting requirements, we find more than sufficient evidence to support a conspiracy...