KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:
Ben Bane was convicted after a jury trial of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 287, 371, 1001, and 1347; five counts of health care fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1347; and four counts of making false claims against the government, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 287. Bane appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court: (1) improperly calculated his guidelines range; (2) improperly calculated the restitution amount; and (3) imposed a fine that exceeded the statutory maximum. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.
This is a Medicare and Medicaid fraud
Before sentencing, a probation officer prepared Bane's Presentence Investigation Report (PSI), which calculated a base offense level of 6 under the sentencing guidelines.
Bane filed numerous objections to the PSI. As relevant here, he objected to the PSI's loss and restitution calculations because they included the value of oxygen that was medically necessary and actually provided. He also argued the victim calculation was incorrect for a similar reason — specifically, that patients who received medically necessary oxygen and supplemental insurers that paid co-pays for it were not victims. And he contended that the sophisticated-means enhancement was improper because the offense did not involve sophisticated or complex conduct.
At sentencing, the district court overruled Bane's objections to the PSI. The court made minor adjustments to the restitution calculation and maximum fine amount, increasing them to $7,031,050.68 and $14,062,101.36, respectively. Despite
Bane asked for a four-year sentence, but the district court opined that would be much too lenient. Instead, the court sentenced Bane to 151 months' imprisonment, a downward variance of 209 months from his guidelines sentence. It also ordered Bane to pay $7,031,050.68 in restitution and a $3 million fine. This is Bane's appeal.
Bane first contends that his sentence is procedurally unreasonable because the district court incorrectly calculated his guidelines range. Specifically, he argues the district court erred by: (1) applying a 20-level enhancement for a loss between $7,000,001 and $20,000,000 that improperly included the value of medically necessary oxygen that was actually provided; (2) imposing a 6-level increase for an offense involving more than 250 victims because people who received medically necessary oxygen were not victims; and (3) imposing a 2-level sophisticated-means enhancement because the offense conduct was not sophisticated.
We review the district court's interpretation and application of the sentencing guidelines de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Ellisor, 522 F.3d 1255, 1273 n. 25 (11th Cir. 2008). "The party challenging the sentence bears the burden of establishing that the sentence is unreasonable." United States v. Willis, 649 F.3d 1248, 1258 (11th Cir.2011). We address Bane's specific challenges in turn.
Bane first challenges his 20-level loss enhancement. Section 2B1.1(b)(1) of the guidelines increases a defendant's offense level by 20 for crimes involving a loss between $7,000,001 and $20,000,000. The district court included this 20-level increase in its guidelines calculation, finding the loss caused by Bane's offenses exceeded $7 million. Bane objected that the loss amount should not include the value of oxygen provided that was in fact medically necessary for patients. On appeal, he argues that the district court erred in rejecting his contention and including the 20-level enhancement.
We are unpersuaded by this argument. Application Note 3(F)(v) provides:
U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1, cmt. (n. 3(F)(v)(III)) (emphasis added).
Bane next challenges his 6-level victims enhancement. The application notes to the sentencing guidelines define a victim as "any person who sustained any part of the actual loss," including "individuals, corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies." Id. § 2B1.1, cmt. (n. 1). Bane does not dispute that patients who received portable oxygen equipment they did not need were victims. Rather, he claims that patients and supplemental insurance companies that paid for medically
Bane also contends that the district court erred in imposing the sophisticated-means enhancement in his guidelines calculation. Specifically, Bane contends that his offenses involved only one simple misrepresentation, namely that an independent laboratory had conducted the pulse oximetry testing necessary to qualify patients for Medicare reimbursements for oxygen.
Section 2B1.1(b)(9)(C) of the guidelines prescribes a two-level enhancement where the offense involves sophisticated means. The commentary to the guidelines defines "sophisticated means" as "especially complex or especially intricate offense conduct pertaining to the execution or concealment of an offense." Id. § 2B1.1, cmt. (n. 8(B)). In evaluating whether a defendant qualifies for the enhancement, the proper focus is on the offense conduct as a whole, not on each individual step. See United States v. Barrington, 648 F.3d 1178, 1199 (11th Cir. 2011) ("Each action by a defendant need not be sophisticated in order to support this enhancement."). Because a district court's conclusion that sophisticated means were involved in an offense is a finding of fact, we review only for clear error. Id.
The district court determined that the sophisticated-means enhancement was warranted because the offense involved multiple corporations, required BMS employees to "create an intricate daily paper trail to mask the fraud," involved "repetitive coordinated conduct," and involved steps to conceal the offense. We cannot say this finding is clearly erroneous. Bane recruited two certified pulse oximetry testing labs to participate in the scheme. He installed pulse oximetry testing software on BMS's computers and used a false name and address to conceal the fact that the software was registered to BMS. His employees then sent test results conducted using that software to the labs. The labs stamped the tests Bane's companies conducted to create the illusion that an independent entity had conducted the testing. Bane also falsified some test results to make it appear as if patients needed oxygen even when they did not, falsified certificates of medical necessity that were submitted to Medicare, forged doctors' signatures on certificates of medical necessity,
Bane next challenges the district court's order of restitution. We review de novo the legality of a restitution order and review for clear error factual findings about the specific restitution amount. United States v. Foley, 508 F.3d 627, 632 (11th Cir.2007). Under 18 U.S.C. § 3663A(c), a defendant convicted of fraud must pay restitution to victims of the offense. For restitution purposes, a victim is any "person [or entity] directly and proximately harmed as a result of the commission of an offense for which restitution may be ordered." Id. § 3663A(a)(2). The government bears the burden of proving loss amount by a preponderance of the evidence, and the court must "order restitution to each victim in the full amount of each victim's losses." Id. § 3664(f)(1)(A).
Bane argues that the court should not have included the amounts Medicare, patients, and supplemental insurers paid for medically necessary oxygen his companies actually provided in the amount of restitution he was required to pay.
"Restitution is not intended to provide a windfall for crime victims but rather to ensure that victims, to the greatest extent possible, are made whole for their losses." United States v. Huff, 609 F.3d 1240, 1249 (11th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). For this reason, "any value of the services or items received by the victim ... must be offset against the restitution order." Id. at 1248. And "because a defendant's culpability will not always equal the victim's injury," the amount of loss for restitution purposes will not always equal the amount of loss under the sentencing guidelines. Id. at 1247 (alteration and internal quotation marks omitted); see also United States v. Germosen, 139 F.3d 120, 130 (2d Cir.1998) ("Of course, an amount-of-loss calculation for purposes of sentencing does not always equal such a calculation for restitution.").
We have never squarely addressed whether a district court should include the value of medically necessary goods a defendant provided as part of the restitution amount outside of the health-care kickback context. In kickback cases, in which a wrongdoer refers a patient to an authorized
The government argues that kickback cases are distinguishable. We disagree. The only distinguishing factor between this case and a kickback case is the particular misrepresentation made to Medicare (here, that an independent lab performed a test and, in a kickback case, that no kickbacks were paid). We see no reason why that distinction should dictate that the value of medically necessary goods that were actually provided should be offset in the restitution amount for one kind of case but not the other.
Moreover, failing to offset the amounts paid for those goods from the restitution amount would be inconsistent with the purpose of restitution because it would give a windfall to victims who received goods they actually needed in the form of both the goods and what they paid for them. And Medicare, Medicaid, and supplemental insurers would get back funds they would have expended even absent Bane's fraud. As our case law makes clear, restitution is intended to put victims in the same position as if the crime had never been committed, not a better one. Huff, 609 F.3d at 1249; see also United States v. Cutter, 313 F.3d 1, 7 (1st Cir. 2002) ("[R]estitution should not be ordered if the loss would have occurred regardless of the defendant's misconduct underlying the offense of conviction.").
At sentencing, the district court found that 80 to 90 percent of the services Bane provided were medically necessary. The government does not refute this finding nor suggest that the pulse oximetry tests were inaccurate or improperly performed. Because the victims who paid for medically necessary oxygen paid no more than they would have if the tests had been performed by an independent entity, the only purpose behind restitution of those amounts would be to punish Bane, which is not a proper basis for a restitution award. United States v. Bowling, 619 F.3d 1175, 1187 (10th Cir.2010) ("Restitution is not intended to punish defendants or to provide a windfall for crime victims, but rather to ensure that victims, to the greatest extent possible, are made whole for their losses." (internal quotation marks omitted)).
We therefore hold that the district court erred when it failed to exclude the value of medically necessary goods victims actually received from its restitution calculation. Because the restitution schedule on which the district court relied does not distinguish between medically necessary and unnecessary oxygen, we vacate the district court's order of restitution and remand for recalculation of the restitution amount. On remand. Bane must offer evidence about what goods or services he provided that were medically necessary and the value of them to receive an offset.
Bane next argues that the $3 million fine the district court imposed violated the Supreme Court's decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), because it exceeded the statutory maximum without a jury finding regarding the amount of the loss. Bane was sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 3571, which provides two alternative maximum fine amounts. Under § 3571(b), a defendant may be fined a maximum of $250,000 for each felony conviction. Alternatively, under § 3571(d), "[i]f any person derives pecuniary gain from the offense, or if the offense results in pecuniary loss to a person other than the defendant, the defendant may be fined not more than the greater of twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss...."
Bane does not dispute that the court could have ordered him to pay a $2.5 million fine under § 3571(b), $250,000 for each of his ten felony convictions. The district court, however, calculated the statutory maximum fine under § 3571(d) as $14,062,101.36, reasoning that this figure was equivalent to twice the $7,031,050.68 gross loss the court found resulted from the offense. The district court then imposed a $3 million fine. But the jury did not find the $7,031,050.68 loss amount on which the court's statutory maximum calculation was based.
Apprendi held that a defendant's Sixth Amendment jury-trial right requires that, "[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. "[T]he statutory maximum for Apprendi purposes is the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant." Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004) (internal quotation marks omitted).
When Bane was sentenced, our sister circuits were split about whether Apprendi applied to criminal fines, and we had not decided the issue. But in June 2012, after Bane's sentencing, the Supreme Court held that "the rule of Apprendi applies to the imposition of criminal fines." Southern Union Co. v. United States, ___; U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 2344, 2357, 183 L.Ed.2d 318 (2012). In other words, a criminal fine is impermissible where it exceeds the amount authorized by either the facts the jury necessarily found to convict the defendant, his prior convictions, or his admissions. See id.
Because the jury convicted Bane of ten felonies, the maximum fine amount authorized by the facts the jury found was $2,500,000. See 18 U.S.C. § 3571(b). The imposition of a $3 million fine, without a jury finding, was therefore error because, under Apprendi, it violated Bane's Sixth Amendment jury-trial guarantee. See Southern Union, 132 S.Ct. at 2357; Apprendi, 530 U.S at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. And because the error was made plain during the pendency of the appeal, we may notice it, provided it meets the additional requirements for plain error review. See Henderson, 133 S.Ct. at 1130-31.
Specifically, we may only reverse if the error affects Bane's substantial rights and seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. See Johnson, 520 U.S. at 467, 117 S.Ct. 1544. "A substantial right is affected if the appealing party can show that there is a reasonable probability that there would have been a different result had there been no error." United States v. Bennett, 472 F.3d 825, 831-32 (11th Cir.2006). Here, because the fine the district court imposed exceeded the maximum amount constitutionally permissible under Apprendi and Southern Union, Bane has demonstrated a reasonable probability of a different result. Had the district court applied Apprendi's rule to criminal fines, the court would have been required to either impose a fine no greater than $2.5 million or instruct the jury to find a loss amount. The error therefore affected Bane's substantial rights. See id.
And we have little trouble concluding that the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. We have previously held that a district court's improper characterization of a prior conviction as a serious drug offense, so that the statutory maximum penalty for the defendant's offense increased, satisfies this requirement. See United States v. Sanchez, 586 F.3d 918, 930 (11th Cir.2009). Here, the district court's error seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings at least as much. In Sanchez, the error was a statutory one. Id. at 929-30. By contrast, the error in this case affected Bane's constitutional right to a jury trial, an interest we guard more closely. See Stinson v. Hornsby, 821 F.2d 1537, 1540 (11th Cir.1987) ("Constitutional claims [are] normally more important than
For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the district court's order of restitution, as well as its imposition of a $3 million fine, and remand for resentencing in a manner consistent with this opinion. In all other respects, we affirm Bane's sentence.
JORDAN, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
Except as to the discussion and conclusion about the calculation of loss under the Sentencing Guidelines, I join the majority opinion. With respect to loss, the issue is a close one, but on balance I conclude that the special rule set forth in Application Note 3(F)(v)(III) to U.S.S.G. § 2B1.1 does not apply under the facts presented.
In order to ensure that they have a medical need for portable oxygen. Medicare requires that patients undergo pulse oximetry testing at independent laboratories. Pulse oximetry, "a routine and non-invasive means of testing oxygen levels in the blood," Doctors Nursing & Rehab. Ctr. v. Sebelius, 613 F.3d 672, 675 (7th Cir. 2010), consists of a monitor receiving and interpreting a signal from a sensor attached to a finger or ear on the patient's body.
Insofar as Mr. Bane billed Medicare $69,814.14 for the pulse oximetry tests themselves, that entire sum was properly counted as loss under the Sentencing Guidelines. After all. Medicare paid for the tests believing that they had been conducted by independent laboratories. See United States v. Curran, 525 F.3d 74, 82 (1st Cir.2008) ("Thus, even supposing such services as the `full body assessment' provided some naturopathic benefit, or at least were believed by some clients to have done so, no credit is available under the Guidelines for them where Curran was falsely posing to be a licensed medical doctor at the time.").
But Mr. Bane was also held responsible under § 2B1.1 for the over $7 million billed to Medicare for the portable oxygen provided to the patients who underwent the pulse oximerty testing, and it is here that I part company with the majority. The district court found at sentencing that for 80-90% of the Medicare patients portable oxygen was medically necessary, see Sentencing Transcript at 211, and in my view the amounts billed for the portable oxygen provided to these patients must be offset (i.e., deducted) when determining loss.
I do not think Application Note 3(F)(v)(III), which constitutes a "Special Rule," controls with respect to the portable oxygen which the district court found was medically necessary. The portable oxygen provided to the patients did not constitute "goods for which regulatory approval by a government agency was required but not obtained." Simply put. Medicare did not require any regulatory approval by any government agency before claims could be submitted for portable oxygen. Application Note 3(F)(v)(III) is best seen as governing special cases in which items or goods or services (e.g., drugs or medical devices) are sold or provided or placed on the market without obtaining the required prior approval of a government agency (e.g., the Food and Drug Administration). See, e.g., United States v. Goldberg, 538 F.3d 280, 290 (3rd Cir.2008) ("F.D.A. approval was required for these drugs to be sold ... There was no such approval because the drugs were misbranded. This means Goldberg was selling goods for which regulatory approval was required but not obtained.").