Following a jury trial, defendant-appellant Rudy Kurniawan ("Kurniawan") was convicted of one count of mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and one count of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, arising from fraudulent schemes to sell rare and expensive counterfeit wine, and to obtain a loan by making materially false statements to the lender. Kurniawan was sentenced principally to 120 months' imprisonment. The District Court entered judgment against him on August 7, 2014. This appeal followed.
On appeal, Kurniawan argues that (1) the warrantless search of his home following his arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights, and the District Court erred by refusing to suppress the fruits of that search; (2) the District Court erred by refusing to dismiss count one of the superseding indictment, which alleged mail fraud, because the count was impermissibly duplicitous; and (3) his sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable. We assume the parties' familiarity with the underlying facts, the procedural history of the case, and the issues on appeal. For the reasons set forth below, we reject Kurniawan's arguments as meritless.
First, Kurniawan argues that the warrantless search of his home following his March 8, 2012, arrest violated his Fourth Amendment rights. He further argues that the District Court should have suppressed the fruits of that search, including evidence later obtained pursuant to a search warrant that was issued in part based on evidence observed during the warrantless search. "When examining a ruling on a motion to suppress, we review the district court's factual findings for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party." United States v. Awadallah, 349 F.3d 42, 71 (2d Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted).
We assume, as the District Court did, without deciding, that the March 8, 2012, protective sweep of Kurniawan's home following his arrest was illegal, see United States v. Kurniawan, No. 12-cr-00376-RMB, 2013 WL 180412, at *1 & n.1 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 17, 2013), and therefore that the evidence observed in plain view by agents during the sweep should not have been included in the subsequent search-warrant affidavit submitted by Agent Farache, see United States v. Trzaska, 111 F.3d 1019, 1026 (2d Cir. 1997). See generally A-165, 173-74 (detailing evidence observed in plain view during protective sweep). But we nonetheless agree with the District Court that, after excising from the Farache affidavit the evidence officers observed in plain view during the protective sweep, there was still probable cause to issue the search warrant.
Indeed, the remaining, untainted information in the affidavit suggested that there was a fair probability that evidence of the alleged counterfeit-wine scheme would be found at Kurniawan's home.
Accordingly, we agree with the District Court that, after excising from the Farache affidavit purportedly tainted evidence discovered during the protective sweep, the remaining, untainted evidence would have provided a neutral magistrate with probable cause to issue the search warrant. See Awadallah, 349 F.3d at 68. Thus, we need not reach the questions of whether the protective sweep was unlawful, and, if so, whether the officers acted in good-faith reliance on the resulting search warrant.
Second, Kurniawan argues that the District Court should have dismissed count one of the superseding indictment, alleging mail fraud, because it was impermissibly duplicitous. We disagree. "We have held that `[a]n indictment is impermissibly duplicitous where: 1) it combines two or more distinct crimes into one count in contravention of Fed. R. Crim. P. 8(a)'s requirement that there be a separate count for each offense, and 2) the defendant is prejudiced thereby.'" United States v. Vilar, 729 F.3d 62, 79 (2d Cir. 2013) (quoting United States v. Sturdivant, 244 F.3d 71, 75 (2d Cir. 2001) (internal quotation marks omitted)). But "this court has long held that acts that could be charged as separate counts of an indictment may instead be charged in a single count if those acts could be characterized as part of a single continuing scheme." United States v. Olmeda, 461 F.3d 271, 281 (2d Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks omitted). Here, Kurniawan's alleged string of mailings in furtherance of his scheme to defraud wine collectors by selling them counterfeit wine, JA-91-102, 481-91, "could be characterized as part of a single continuing scheme," Olmeda, 461 F.3d at 281 (internal quotation mark omitted). And in any event, based on the record before us, we are unconvinced that Kurniawan was prejudiced by the purported duplicity. Cf. United States v. Margiotta, 646 F.2d 729, 733 (2d Cir. 1981) (no unfairness to defendant anticipated where multiple mail fraud offenses in single scheme to defraud were included in a single count of an indictment).
We have considered the defendant-appellant's remaining arguments and find them to be without merit. Accordingly, we