In United States v. Sheffield, No. 17-13682 (Oct. 1,
2019) (Jordan, Tjoflat, Anderson), the Court vacated the restitution
order.
In this fraudulent tax return case, the restitution amount
should have been easy to calculate because each return triggered a refund of
$1,000. In this case, where the loss
amount is definite and easy to calculate, the government could not rely on a
reasonable estimate. But rather than
simply multiply the returns, the government introduced a spreadsheet, which
contained duplicative entries that were not removed. Although the duplicates were likely only a
small portion of the overall award, the Court nonetheless vacated the award
because the defendant had a right not to be sentenced on the basis of
inaccurate or unreliable information.
