United States v. Jones

NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS SEP 20 2024 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 23-1929 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellee, 1:21-cr-00019-JCC-6 v. MEMORANDUM* MONIQUE JONES, Defendant - Appellant. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 23-1932 23-1929 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellee, 1:21-cr-00019-JCC-7 1:21-cr-00019-JCC-6 v. MEMORANDUM* MEKAYDA D. JONES, Defendant - Appellant. * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.  Appeal from the District Court of Guam John C. Coughenour, District Judge, Presiding Submitted September 17, 2024** Before: WARDLAW, BADE, and H.A. THOMAS, Circuit Judges. In these consolidated appeals, Monique and Mekayda D. Jones appeal from the forfeiture order and in personam money judgments imposed pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 981(a)(1)(C) and 982(a)(2)(A) and 28 U.S.C. § 2461(c), upon appellants’ jury-trial convictions for wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to launder money. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we vacate and remand. As the government concedes, appellants were incorrectly ordered to forfeit all of the fraud proceeds that were processed through their accounts, rather than the amounts that “came to rest with” them. United States v. Thompson, 990 F.3d 680, 691 (9th Cir. 2021) (holding that joint and several liability does not apply to forfeiture judgments under 18 U.S.C. § 981(a)(1)(C), which must reflect only the amount left with the defendant after “the loot was divided among the conspirators”). Accordingly, we vacate the forfeiture order and in personam money judgments entered against appellants, and remand for the district court to ** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). 2 23-1929 & 23-1932 recalculate the forfeiture amounts owed by appellants consistent with Thompson. VACATED and REMANDED. 3 23-1929 & 23-1932