This appeal is the last chapter of a lengthy FBI investigation of the State Attorney for the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida,1 Jeffrey Alan Siegmeister. The investigation began in August 2018, after Andy Tong, whom Siegmeister was prosecuting for maintaining a gambling house in violation of Florida law,2 told the FBI that his attorney, Marion Michael O’Steen, would have to pay Siegmeister $50,000 for a favorable disposition of the case. The investigation concluded in February 2021, when a Middle District of Florida grand jury returned a twelve-count indictment against Siegmeister and O’Steen. Siegmeister was charged in eleven counts, O’Steen in four. Relevant here are Counts One through Four.
O'Steen, of Cross City, Florida, was convicted on the two charges in June 2022 and acquitted on two other charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and extortion. At trial, prosecutors said that O'Steen requested official acts from Siegmeister, including the favorable disposition of charges filed against his client, to enable O'Steen to get more fees from his clients.
"The offenses alleged in Counts Three and Four are materially unrelated, involve different factual predicates, and are subject to different standards of review. We consider them separately," U.S. Circuit Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat wrote for the panel.
In August 2018, O'Steen allegedly told a client that if he paid an additional $60,000 fee, O'Steen could then use a "favor" with the state attorney to make "everything go away." O'Steen told his client he could go to trial, but he didn't think the client could win and that the client would not get the same result with another attorney, prosecutors said.
That $60,000 was provided as part of an FBI sting — a fact which is key in the appellate court's decision.
O'Steen was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 44 months on those counts, to be followed by a three-year period of supervised release, and was ordered a fine of $45,000 and make restitution to the United States of $60,000.
On appeal, O'Steen's attorney argued that count three must be reversed because "a private citizen cannot be convicted as a principal to extortion under color of official right." O'Steen also argued that under the Hobbs Act, extorted property 'must be actual property of the victim' rather than 'sting money the government provided.'
"We agree. Although the use of government funds as bribe money depletes the funds available to the government, it does not 'deplete[] the assets of an individual who is directly engaged in interstate commerce.' …Therefore, evidence of an alleged extortion involving purely government money cannot establish even the minimal effect on interstate commerce that is required by the Hobbs Act," the appellate court found.
The Hobbs Act prohibits extortion and conspiracies to commit such acts that affect interstate commerce.
On count four, O'Steen argued he was entitled to acquittal because the government failed to provide beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew about a 15-day filing period for a Form 8300, which reports the receipt of more than $10,000 in currency, with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
Read more at: https://www.law360.com/whitecollar/articles/2321445?nl_pk=fcc4077e-7182-4fa9-84a6-2b612a7aed76&read_main=1&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=1?copied=1
No comments:
Post a Comment