Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration

[ECF No. 344]

JENNIFER A. DORSEY, District Judge.

Ramon Desage pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States.1 Although he admits in his plea agreement to conspiring to cause fraudulent federal income tax returns to be filed for himself and his entities for the tax years 2006-09,2 the parties disputed the amount of the tax loss and left that valuation to the court. The parties' positions were clearly drawn: the Internal Revenue Service agents who had spent years evaluating Desage's books and records calculated that he underreported and underpaid his income tax by $28,221,767 for tax years 2006-09; Desage countered that he could have claimed a near-equal amount of additional tax deductions that would have wiped out his entire deficiency because he used unaccounted-for cash to repay loans and fund other business expenses. After listening to two days of testimony, sifting through a pile of accounting documents, and evaluating the parties' extensive briefing, the court adopted the government's position and found that Desage's loss amount for sentencing and restitution purposes is $28,221,767.3

Desage moves for reconsideration, arguing that the court "committed clear error in this determination" and should find instead "a tax loss of $8,008,000."4 He suggests that the court was confused in its assessment and offers brand new arguments and figures to support a reduced sum. The court is not persuaded by this additional and novel argument. The parties' positions were exhaustively presented, argued, briefed, and evaluated. And the court supported its conclusions with heavy citations to the record in a 13-page order. The court does not find a basis to reconsider, so it stands by its ruling.

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the motion for reconsideration [ECF No. 344] is DENIED. Sentencing will proceed as scheduled on September 23, 2019, at 2 p.m.