Motty Mizrahi v. United States

Four different sentencing guidelines - the ones for Basic Economic Offenses(§ 2Bl.1), Tax Fraud(§ 2Tl.1), Aiding and Abetting Tax Frauds(§ 2Tl.4), and Smuggling Offenses(§ 2T4.1) - include an identical enhancement for defendants who employed "sophisticated means" to commit or conceal the crime. The circuits are split over whether a district court's application of a guideline enhancement to a specific set of facts is reviewed deferentially or de novo and, equally, but along different lines, over the standard to apply when reviewing a district court's application of the sophisticated means enhancement to undisputed facts. The question presented is: Whether a district court's application of a guidelines enhancement to undisputed facts - such as the "sophisticated means" enhancement - is a question of fact reviewed for clear error, a discretionary judgment call reviewed only for abuse of discretion or, instead, a mixed question of law and fact subject to de novo review.