Judge Arthur Spatt
Carnesi participated in a multimillion dollar fraud scheme. Proceeds from the scheme’s wire and mail frauds were laundered through bank accounts in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. After pleading guilty to conspiring to commit money laundering, Carnesi was sentenced to 70 months in prison, and ordered to pay 10 percent of his gross monthly income until $5.422 million in restitution was paid. At sentencing, the government claimed that, contrary to the presentence report, it was able to identify nearly 70 victims, mainly in Mexico and in Europe. Challenging restitution, Carnesi claimed entitlement to coram nobis relief because the restitution violated the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) by failing to identify the victims and their respective losses. Granting Carnesi coram nobis relief the court vacated the restitution order. Carnesi satisfied the Second Circuit’s three-prong test in Foont v. United States. The government continually failed to meet its burden of identifying victims and accounting for their respective losses. Noting that the restitution order’s deficiencies were obvious violations of the MVRA, the court agreed with Carnesi that counsel ineffectively did not seek to appeal the order’s imposition.
