United States v. Razzouk


18-1395 United States v. Razzouk In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit ______________ August Term, 2019 (Argued: October 1, 2019 Decided: October 2, 2020) Docket No. 18-1395 ______________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, –v.– SASSINE RAZZOUK, Defendant-Appellant. ______________ B e f o r e: WALKER and CARNEY, Circuit Judges, and KOELTL, District Judge. 1 ______________ Defendant-Appellant Sassine Razzouk appeals from an April 25, 2018 judgment of conviction and sentence. In 2011, Razzouk pleaded guilty to one count of accepting bribes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), and three counts of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, in connection with a bribery scheme that he and others perpetrated while he was an employee of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, 1Judge John G. Koeltl, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. Inc. (“Con Edison”). As part of the sentence it imposed in 2018, the district court ordered Razzouk to pay $6,867,350.51 in restitution to Con Edison and $1,982,238.34 to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). On appeal, Razzouk argues that the district court erred in its restitution order by (1) incorrectly determining that his bribery conduct was “an offense against property” under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (“MVRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(c)(1)(A)(ii), and (2) incorrectly calculating the loss to Con Edison caused by the scheme. The government, in turn, advocates a remand of the restitution order in light of Lagos v. United States, 138 S. Ct. 1684 (2018), to allow the district court to reconsider its inclusion of certain investigatory costs incurred by Con Edison in the restitution order total. After review, we reject Razzouk’s argument that the MVRA does not support the restitution order to Con Edison. As urged by the government, however, we vacate the order and remand to the district court to allow that court to address the effect of Lagos on its calculation of the restitution amount. In a summary order filed concurrently with the Opinion, we decide the other issues raised by Razzouk in his appeal. The district court’s order of restitution is VACATED and the cause is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion. ______________ FRANK TURNER BUFORD (David C. James, Claire S. Kedeshian, on the brief), for Seth DuCharme, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, NY, for Appellee United States of America. STEVE ZISSOU, ESQ., Bayside, NY, for Defendant-Appellant Sassine Razzouk. ______________ CARNEY, Circuit Judge: Defendant-Appellant Sassine Razzouk appeals from an April 25, 2018 judgment of conviction and sentence. In 2011, Razzouk pleaded guilty to one count of accepting bribes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), and three counts of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, in connection with a bribery scheme that he and others perpetrated while he was an employee of Consolidated Edison Company of New York, 2 Inc. (“Con Edison”). As part of the sentence it imposed in 2018, the district court ordered Razzouk to ...

Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals