United States v. Jacobs

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, v.  No. 01-4035 ADEMOLA JACOBS, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Catherine C. Blake, District Judge. (CR-96-177-CCB) Submitted: December 10, 2001 Decided: December 28, 2001 Before WIDENER, MICHAEL, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL Kenneth W. Ravenell, SCHULMAN, TREEM, KAMINKOW, GIL- DEN & RAVENELL, P.A., Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellant. Thomas M. DiBiagio, United States Attorney, Barbara S. Sale, Assis- tant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 UNITED STATES v. JACOBS OPINION PER CURIAM: Ademola Jacobs pled guilty to Count 1 of the fifth superceding indictment which charged him with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 1956(h) (West 2000 & Supp. 2001). On appeal, he alleges that the district court should have sentenced him under the fraud section of the U.S. Sentencing Guide- lines Manual ("USSG") § 2F1.1 (1998), rather than the money- laundering section, USSG § 2S1.1. Jacobs also alleges that he should have received a downward adjustment for being a minimal or minor participant in the scheme under USSG § 3B1.2. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. First, we do not find that the district court erred in sentencing Jacobs under the money-laundering section of the Guidelines as he was indicted for and pled guilty to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. See United States v. Davis, 202 F.3d 212, 217 (4th Cir.) (stating review standard), cert. denied, 530 U.S. 1236 (2000); United States v. Lambert, 994 F.2d 1088, 1091 (4th Cir. 1993) (same); USSG § 1B1.2(a). Next, we do not find that the district court clearly erred by declin- ing to find that Jacobs was a minor or minimal participant in the scheme under USSG § 3B1.2. See United States v. Gordon, 895 F.2d 932, 934-35 (4th Cir. 1990) (stating review standard); United States v. Reavis, 48 F.3d 763, 768-69 (4th Cir. 1995) (defining minor or minimal participant). Accordingly, we affirm. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materi- als before the court and argument would not aid the decisional pro- cess. AFFIRMED