TINDER, Circuit Judge.
Aida Salem and Bogdan Ganescu come before us again in these successive appeals. Salem pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, see 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and Ganescu pled guilty to several counts of wire fraud and two counts of receipt of stolen funds, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2315, arising out of their participation in an internet fraud scheme. In their first appeal, we held that the district court erred in not making certain findings regarding the jointly undertaken criminal activity under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) and we remanded. See United States v. Salem, 597 F.3d 877 (7th Cir.2010).
Between November 2003 and at least August 2006, more than two thousand fell victim to the internet fraud scheme in which Salem and Ganescu participated with others. Individuals outside the United States, often based in Romania (the "foreign co-schemers"), posed as sellers of goods on eBay and other internet auction sites. The victims of the scheme were directed to send payment by wire transfer, typically through Western Union. The foreign co-schemers developed a network of individuals in the United States, including numerous co-schemers in the Chicago area, who collected payment using false identifications. The co-schemers kept a percentage of the proceeds for themselves and forwarded the remainder to the foreign co-schemers.
Following their guilty pleas, Salem and Ganescu were sentenced and then appealed. They argued that the district court erred in applying U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) and in making its relevant conduct findings. In the first appeal, we agreed that the court erred and remanded for further findings regarding the jointly undertaken criminal activity. See Salem, 597 F.3d at 886-89, 890-91. Specifically, we instructed the district court to determine the scope of the criminal activity that Salem and Ganescu agreed to jointly undertake. Id. at 890. Regarding Salem, we directed the court to "determine whether the acts of [Adrian Fechete, Gabriel Constantin, Ioan Moloman, Mihail Hann, Marian Alexandru, Mihai Panaitescu, Constantin Lucan, Stefan Dumitru, and Lucian Nanau] were in furtherance of that jointly undertaken criminal activity." Id. Salem did not challenge the district court's finding that those co-schemers' acts were reasonably foreseeable to him. Because the district court had omitted a reasonable foreseeability finding as to co-schemer Mihai Bledea, we stated that appropriate findings should be made as to him as well. Id.
We also ruled that Salem waived any right to challenge the district court's determination that he was accountable for the conduct of Raimondoray Cerna and Adrian Ianc. Id. In addition, we directed the district court to "determine whether the acts of Ianc, Constantin, Bledea, and EM (Emanuel Matula) were in furtherance of Ganescu's ... jointly undertaken criminal activity." Id. at 891. Ganescu did not contest the district court's findings regarding the reasonable foreseeability of the acts of these co-schemers. We noted that Ganescu conceded he was liable "for Simon's conduct [and] Emanuel Matula's conduct...." Id. We refer the reader to Salem, id. at 879-84, for further background regarding the scheme and Salem's and Ganescu's specific roles and involvement in the scheme.
The district court found that "Ganescu agreed to jointly undertake this scheme that I've just generally described" with Ianc, Constantin, Bledea, and Matula, and "Ganescu agreed to participate in this scheme with them jointly." The court further found that the conduct of Ianc, Constantin, Bledea, and Matula was in furtherance of this jointly undertaken criminal activity. These findings were based on the following factors outlined in the presentence investigation report, the government's version of the offense and the sentencing submissions (the court noted that "the government's submission in this regard was not contested"): similarities in the modus operandi, including the use of fictitious bank accounts for fictitious vendors, the internet solicitation scheme, and similar email presentations, even as to typographical errors; Ganescu's knowledge of the scope of the scheme, including the fact that these co-schemers associated with each other and the evidence supported the inference that Ganescu was aware of the participation in the scheme by the others "just named"; coordination among the co-schemers "just mentioned," including the shared common sources of Western Union transactions, the travel together between currency exchange locations, and the sharing of other information; and Ganescu's length of participation in the scheme (his participation began in August 2004). The court noted that some of the named co-schemers caused the proceeds to be wire-transferred to Romania, which "would be joint proceeds in many instances." In addition, telephone records indicated constant contact between the co-schemers. The court expressly adopted all pertinent parts of the presentence investigation report as to the relevant conduct issue and found that Ganescu's total offense level was 28, that his criminal history category was I, and again sentenced him to a within-guideline sentence of 78 months.
The district court found that Salem agreed to jointly undertake criminal activity with Cerna, Fechete, Ianc, Constantin, Moloman, Hann, Alexandru, Panaitescu, Lucan, Dumitru, and Nanau.
We review the district court's interpretation and application of the sentencing guidelines de novo and review its factual findings for clear error. United States v. Wright, 651 F.3d 764, 774-75 (7th Cir. 2011). A factual finding is clearly erroneous only if after reviewing the evidence we are "`firmly convinced' that a mistake has been made." United States v. Shamah, 624 F.3d 449, 458 (7th Cir.2010), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 1529, 179 L.Ed.2d 345 (2011). The district court may draw reasonable inferences from the record in making its factual findings at sentencing. See United States v. Cruz-Rea, 626 F.3d 929, 938 (7th Cir.2010) ("[W]hen a district court chooses between two permissible inferences from the evidence, the factual findings cannot have been clearly erroneous."); Salem, 597 F.3d at 889 (same).
Rather, the district court "may consider any explicit agreement or implicit agreement fairly inferred from the conduct of the defendant and others." U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 cmt. n.2; see also Soto-Piedra, 525 F.3d at 532. Several factors are relevant in determining the scope of jointly undertaken criminal activity: (1) the existence of a single scheme, see United States v. Adeniji, 221 F.3d 1020, 1028 (7th Cir.2000); (2) similarities in modus operandi, see id. at 1028-29 (noting that the defendants "took virtually identical steps in setting up mailing addresses and bank accounts for the fictional ... vendors" closely in time); (3) coordination of activities among schemers, see id. at 1028 (multiple telephone calls between phones associated with the defendants confirmed that they were coordinating their activities); United States v. Giang, 143 F.3d 1078, 1081 (7th Cir.1998) (stating that the defendant's "close collaboration with his cohorts" established a joint undertaking); U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 cmt. n.2, illus. (c)(8); (4) pooling of resources or profits, see Adeniji, 221 F.3d at 1028 (sharing of proceeds); U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 cmt. n.2, illus. (c)(6); (5) knowledge of the scope of the scheme, see United States v. Thomas, 199 F.3d 950, 954 (7th Cir.1999); and (6) length and degree of the defendant's participation in the scheme, see id.
On remand, the district court made appropriate findings regarding jointly undertaken criminal activity, and its findings are well-supported by the record and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom. In this case, there is a single scheme, similarities in modus operandi, coordination of activities among co-schemers, and sharing of resources, including information and rides to currency exchanges. Further, both Salem and Ganescu knew of the scope of the scheme and participated in it fully and for a lengthy time period—more than two years. And by returning a portion of the fraud proceeds to the Romanian schemers, the Chicago area co-schemers, including Salem and Ganescu, "would ensure that repeat business would be sent their way," United States v. Aslan, 644 F.3d 526, 530 (7th Cir.2011), thus promoting the scheme and other co-schemers' activities. The evidence raised a reasonable inference that
Despite the defendants' contention, United States v. Studley, 47 F.3d 569 (2d Cir.1995), is not on "all fours" with this case. Studley involved a telemarketing loan fraud scheme. Studley was hired as a sales representative to process calls from would-be borrowers. Id. at 571. The evidence did not show that Studley did anything to further the scheme outside of his own sales efforts or that he assisted other sales representatives with their sales. Id. at 576. Further, Illustration (c)(7) of Application Note 2 to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, which shows that a defendant's knowledge of the scope of an overall conspiracy is insufficient to hold him accountable for the activities of the entire conspiracy, is of no help to the defendants in this case. As should be apparent by this point in our opinion, the district court did not hold Salem and Ganescu accountable solely based on their awareness of the scope of the entire scheme.
The district court made appropriate findings on remand, and its findings are supported in the record. We therefore AFFIRM its judgments.