FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 08-30153
MICHAEL MARKS RICH, AKA D.C. No.
6:05-cr-60140-HO
Richard Forbes Williams, AKA
Richard Morgan Forbes, AKA OPINION
Michael Richard Brown,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Oregon
Michael R. Hogan, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
October 5, 2009—Portland, Oregon
Filed May 3, 2010
Before: Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain and N. Randy Smith,
Circuit Judges, and Charles Wolle,* Senior District Judge.
Opinion by Judge O’Scannlain
*The Honorable Charles Wolle, United States District Judge for the
Southern District of Iowa, sitting by designation.
6553
6556 UNITED STATES v. RICH
COUNSEL
Kevin W. Bons, Beckley Law Firm, P.C., Eugene, Oregon,
argued the cause for the defendant-appellant. Kelly R. Beck-
ley filed the briefs.
Kelly A. Zusman, Assistant United States Attorney, argued
the cause for the plaintiff-appellee and was on the briefs. Sean
B. Hoar, Assistant United States Attorney, filed the briefs.
Karin J. Immergut, United States Attorney, Kent S. Robinson,
Acting United States Attorney, and Robert Nesler, Assistant
United States Attorney, also were on the briefs.
OPINION
O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:
We consider whether the estate of a criminal defendant
who dies pending appeal of his fraud conviction must con-
tinue to pay restitution to victims.
I
Michael Rich operated Pac Equities, a real estate invest-
ment firm. As president of the firm, he solicited investors with
promises of high annual returns and low loan-to-value ratios,
touting his prior successes. Unfortunately, Pac Equities was a
Ponzi scheme. Over the course of several years, Rich and Pac
Equities defrauded over 300 individuals of approximately $16
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6557
million. A grand jury charged Rich and co-defendant Pac
Equities in a twenty-seven count superseding indictment with
securities fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money
laundering, obstruction of justice, and filing a false tax return.
After indictment, Rich violated his pre-trial release condi-
tions by spending over $600,000, part of it in a Las Vegas
casino. He subsequently agreed to the appointment of a tem-
porary receiver both to preserve the assets held by or seized
from the defendants and to distribute them to victims of his
scheme. The magistrate judge, the government prosecutor,
and the defense counsel all signed the temporary receivership
stipulated order, dated March 14, 2006, over 18 months prior
to the trial.
A few months later, the temporary receivership was con-
verted to a permanent receivership through a permanent
receivership stipulated order dated October 24, 2006
(“Receivership Order”) signed by counsel for both parties and
the magistrate judge. Subsequent to his permanent appoint-
ment, the receiver began recovering and disposing of prop-
erty. By April 2, 2007, approximately seven months before
Rich’s trial, the receiver had returned nearly $3 million of
seized assets to victims.
After a ten-day trial, a jury found Rich guilty of twenty-six
of the twenty-seven counts of the superseding indictment.1 It
also returned special forfeiture verdicts finding that all the
property described in the superseding indictment derived from
the fraudulent scheme, and thus was forfeitable. Three months
later, after the trial but before sentencing, the permanent
receiver returned an additional $3 million to victims from the
seized assets for a total of $5,818,009.55.
1
The jury did not find Rich guilty of one of the obstruction of justice
counts. The court later acquitted him of the other obstruction of justice
count.
6558 UNITED STATES v. RICH
On May 7, 2008, the district judge sentenced Rich to a 236-
month term of imprisonment.2 It also ordered Rich to pay a
special fee assessment of $2,400, or $100 for each count on
which he was convicted. Most importantly for our purposes,
the court ordered Rich and Pac Equities, jointly and severally,
to pay restitution of over $10 million dollars (“Restitution
Order”), the amount of the loss to investors remaining after
deducting funds already returned to victims or held by the
Receiver.
Rich timely appealed on May 9, 2008. But on June 2, 2008,
before his appeal could be heard, Rich passed away. His
counsel subsequently moved to abate and to dismiss the
appeal and all criminal proceedings, which the government
opposed. A motions panel of this court denied the motions
“without prejudice to renewing the arguments in the merits
briefs.”
II
A
[1] Rich now challenges the denial of his motions to abate
the conviction and all criminal proceedings. There is no doubt
that “death pending appeal of a criminal conviction abates not
only the appeal but all proceedings in the prosecution from its
inception.” United States v. Oberlin, 718 F.2d 894, 895 (9th
Cir. 1983) (citing Durham v. United States, 401 U.S. 481
(1971) (per curiam)). This principle, called the rule of abate-
ment ab initio, prevents, among other things, recovery against
the estate of a fine imposed as part of the conviction and sen-
tence and use of an abated conviction against the estate in
related civil litigation. The rationale for abatement ab initio is
that “the interests of justice ordinarily require that [the
deceased] not stand convicted without resolution of the merits
of his appeal.” Oberlin, 718 F.2d at 896 (quoting United
2
It sentenced co-defendant Ms. Rich to 51 months.
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6559
States v. Moehlenkamp, 557 F.2d 126, 128 (7th Cir. 1977)).
Thus, in our case, there is no doubt that Rich’s conviction and
any outstanding fines must be abated, and that his indictment
must be dismissed.3
B
But, Rich also argues that the Restitution Order for $10
million should also be abated.4 In Rich’s view, abatement of
the Order will not only eliminate requirements of future pay-
ments, but also will result in the return of all the property
titled in his name that is currently in the possession of the
receiver and of amounts previously returned to victims pursu-
ant to the Restitution Order. The government strenuously
objects, responding that the Restitution Order should not
abate and that, even if it does, moneys the receiver currently
possesses or has already disbursed should not be refunded.
As the foregoing suggests, the parties’ contentions are
muddied by the coexistence of a pre-conviction Receivership
Order and a post-conviction Restitution Order. For example,
Rich refers to moneys that already have been paid pursuant to
the Restitution Order. But there are no such moneys. The only
3
But fines already paid need not be refunded because they are the equiv-
alent of time-served. United States v. Zizzo, 120 F.3d 1338, 1347 (7th Cir.
1997) (holding that a defendant who died during a pending appeal, but
after paying a $50,000 fine and various other assessments, was not due the
moneys because the payments “are analogous to time served and are not
refundable”) (citing Eleventh and Fifth Circuit cases); United States v.
Parsons, Estate of, 367 F.3d 409, 417-18 (5th Cir. 2004) (en banc); United
States v. Logal, 106 F.3d 1547 (11th Cir. 1997). Thus, the government
need not refund any payments on the $2,400 special fee assessment.
4
The government implies that Rich’s attorneys cannot raise this argu-
ment without substitution of the estate, but substitution is not required.
Oberlin, 718 F.2d at 894. Consequently, we use “Rich” to refer to “Rich”
and “Rich’s estate.” Nor is the issue moot: the receiver has already dis-
bursed funds, currently possesses funds, and may in the future possess
more funds for distribution. All three categories of funds could be affected
if the government were to prevail.
6560 UNITED STATES v. RICH
moneys that already have been paid to victims were those dis-
bursed by the receivership, but those distributions occurred
prior to the sentencing when there was no Restitution Order.
Rich could not have paid moneys to victims pursuant to a
Restitution Order that did not exist.
Because of this confusion, we must examine the nature of
the interaction of the Receivership Order and the Restitution
Order and then address the consequences of Rich’s death
upon each.
III
A
We focus on the Receivership Order, and not the temporary
receivership stipulated order, because the permanent order
remains operative. It does not differ in relevant part from the
temporary order and both orders predate the conviction and
Restitution Order.
The Receivership Order provided for appointment of a
receiver to take from Rich the property he fraudulently
obtained from investors and to restore it to them. The court
found that “[g]ood cause exists to believe that [Rich] engaged
in securities fraud [and other crimes], and that pursuant to
[various laws], the real and personal property referenced in
this Order is forfeitable and should be restored to all persons
who have suffered pecuniary harm as the result of such viola-
tions.” Consequently, the court ordered that, as of May 30,
2006:
Receiver shall hereafter be allowed to take posses-
sion and control of all assets that appear to be the
proceeds of Defendant’s fraudulent activity, subject
to the claims by Defendant and/or Phyllis Rich that
such assets are not proceeds of fraud, and to manage
or dispose of such assets in order to restore such
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6561
property to persons who have suffered pecuniary
harm as a result of unlawful business practices asso-
ciated with Defendant.
Under that power, the receiver was authorized to “implement
a claims handling and equitable distribution process to inves-
tors and creditors” and empowered “to sell or otherwise dis-
pose of any real or personal property without further order of
this Court.”
The court also “retain[ed] jurisdiction over th[e] action for
the purposes of implementing and carrying out the terms of all
orders and decrees which may be entered herein.” In particu-
lar, the Receivership Order empowered the receiver “to seek
further instructions from this Court as to any matter pertaining
to administration of the Receivership.” The court also retained
the power to adjudicate any claim by Rich that assets “discov-
ered and/or seized” by the receivership “are not the proceeds
of fraud.” “If the claim cannot be resolved,” the court ordered,
“the Receiver shall bring the matter to the attention of the
Court and the Court shall have jurisdiction to determine the
Defendant’s claim.”
B
By contrast, the Restitution Order was created approxi-
mately two years later and accompanied the judgment of con-
viction, the sentence of imprisonment, and a special fee
assessment. Specifically, the court ordered that Rich “shall
pay full restitution, payable immediately in full, to the victims
identified in the clerk’s office.” It specified that he “is to
receive credit for the April 2, 2007 distribution from the
Receiver to the victims in the amount of $2,818,009.55, as
well as the March 6, 2008 distribution from the Receiver to
the victims in the amount of $3,000,000.” Consequently, it
required that Rich “pay the remaining restitution, $10,
362,689.81, joint and several with Phyllis Rich [and] Pac
6562 UNITED STATES v. RICH
Equities.” The court waived interest on the amount because of
the defendants’ inability to pay such interest.
[2] The Restitution Order did not limit the source of pay-
ment to proceeds from Rich’s crimes. This makes sense, as
orders of restitution are generally not so restricted. Such prac-
tice explains why, when considering whether to order restitu-
tion under the Victim and Witness Protection Act (“VWPA”),
18 U.S.C. § 3663, courts consider the convicted defendant’s
“financial needs and earning ability.” 18 U.S.C.
§ 3663(a)(1)(B)(i)(II). It also explains why a defendant is
required to “notify the court and the Attorney General of any
material change in the defendant’s economic circumstances
that might affect the defendant’s ability to pay.” Id. § 3664(k).
Such changes may prompt the court to “require immediate
payment in full,” id., in contrast to the original schedule,
which depends in part on the defendant’s “projected earnings
and other income” at the time. Id. § 3664(f)(1)(B)(2)(B). If
convicted defendants were not to pay restitution out of earn-
ings, both provisions make little sense.
[3] Indeed, all of a convicted defendant’s income and
assets may be subject to restitution. For example, section
3664 provides that a “[i]f a person obligated to provide resti-
tution, or pay a fine, receives substantial resources from any
source, including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment,
during a period of incarceration, such person shall be required
to apply the value of such resources to any restitution or fine
still owed.” Id. § 3664(n). Thus, the Restitution Order differs
from the Receivership Order in an important respect: the Res-
titution Order reaches assets that are not proceeds of fraud.
C
Thus, there is a fundamental distinction between funds at
issue in this appeal. First, there are those funds that the
receiver may reach, which, as stated in the Receivership
Order, are “the proceeds of Defendant’s fraudulent activity.”
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6563
Nearly $9 million of such proceeds have already been
obtained, of which $5.8 million have been distributed by the
receiver; $3 million are still in the receiver’s possession, wait-
ing to be disbursed.5 And then there are the funds of this type
that the receiver may discover in the future, which may be
subject to the defendant’s claims.
Second, there are those funds that the receiver may not
reach, which, as stated in the Receivership Order, “are not the
proceeds of fraud.” But such funds are not necessarily Rich’s
free and clear, for they are subject to the Restitution Order,
which, of course, extends to all of Rich’s assets and income,
regardless of whether they arose from fraud. Examples of
such funds would include inheritances, civil judgments, earn-
ings, and, most importantly, other assets the receiver may dis-
cover which are “not the proceeds of fraud.”6
IV
[4] Which brings us to the question of what happens to the
receivership, and the funds it reaches, upon the abatement of
Rich’s conviction because of his death pending appeal. The
answer is simple: nothing. The receivership continues regard-
less of abatement of the conviction because the receivership
was not dependent in any way on Rich’s conviction. Nothing
in the Receivership Order suggests it is extinguished by the
Restitution Order, which, in turn, is silent on the point.
5
We know that these funds survived defendant’s claims because any
defendant claims on these funds are time-barred pursuant to the Permanent
Receivership Stipulated Order, which requires objection within 30 days of
its filing or notice of the discovery of such assets.
6
There is a live dispute over these unknown funds because a restitution
order is a judgment against the estate for such funds, which constitutes an
injury for the purposes of Article III standing. E.g., United States v. Chris-
topher, 273 F.3d 294, 297 (3d Cir. 2001) (exercising jurisdiction over
estate’s appeal of restitution order).
6564 UNITED STATES v. RICH
Nowhere in the document are the receiver’s powers condi-
tioned upon a criminal conviction or made reversible upon the
failure of the prosecution to obtain a criminal conviction.7 The
separability of the requirement of repayment to victims and
the conviction itself is confirmed by the fact that the receiver-
ship took possession of Rich’s property, disposed of such
property, and disbursed such property prior to Rich’s convic-
tion, and prior to his sentencing, without Rich’s objection.
[5] The omission of a provision conditioning repayment to
victims upon conviction starkly contrasts with arrangements
described in other cases. In United States v. Parsons, Estate
of, 367 F.3d 409, 418 n.22 (5th Cir. 2004) (en banc), for
example, the Fifth Circuit considered an agreement providing
that “[i]n the event [the defendant] prevails in the final deter-
mination of this appeal, and no Final Judgment of Forfeiture
is entered in this case, the government shall return to [the
defendant] the entire amount.”8 Here, Rich did not make such
a reservation regarding the funds collected by the Receiver for
repayment. He cannot now claim that his conviction was a
predicate for such repayment, or claim that abatement of the
conviction nullifies the requirement of repayment.
[6] In short, because of his stipulation to a permanent
receivership, Rich cannot now, after death has abated his con-
viction, challenge the receiver’s power to repay victims. On
the contrary, Rich essentially has waived such objections by
stipulating to the pre-trial appointment of the receiver. This
means that Rich’s death pending appeal has no effect on the
receivership. The $5.8 million already disbursed, the $3 mil-
7
The only reference to a subsequent criminal trial—at all—is a provi-
sion preventing the government from using the Receivership Order in its
case-in-chief.
8
It does not matter that in Parsons the agreement was described as a
preliminary judgment of forfeiture. 367 F.3d at 418. The effect is the same
as the appointment of a receiver: in both cases, the defendant’s property
is placed in the immediate control of the government.
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6565
lion waiting to be disbursed, and the as yet undiscovered pro-
ceeds of fraud cannot be refunded to Rich. The receivership
remains as alive as on the day of its creation or the day of
Rich’s sentencing. And the district court retains jurisdiction,
as it specified in the Receivership Order, to adjudicate any
issues arising out of the receiver’s collection and disburse-
ment of funds, including any claims that newly discovered
funds are “not the proceeds of fraud.”
V
But what about the funds which the receivership may not
reach, but that are nonetheless covered by the Restitution
Order?
[7] Whether a restitution order abates is a question that has
divided the circuits. Compare United States v. Christopher,
273 F.3d 294, 297 (3d Cir. 2001) (holding restitution order is
not abated); United States v. Johnson, 937 F.2d 609 (6th Cir.
1991) (unpublished per curiam) (same), and United States v.
Dudley, 739 F.2d 175 (4th Cir. 1984) (same), with Parsons,
367 F.3d at 414-15 (holding restitution order is abated), and
United States v. Logal, 106 F.3d 1547, 1552 (11th Cir. 1997)
(same). We have not yet addressed this question, despite our
repeated affirmation of the ab initio principle. Oberlin, 718
F.2d at 894 (involving forfeiture); United States v. Cloud, 921
F.2d 225 (9th Cir. 1990) (“Cloud II”) (involving a living con-
victed defendant’s challenge to an order that his estate pay
restitution after his death).
A
Since restitution ordered in sentencing is a statutory remedy
based on the VWPA and the Mandatory Victim Restitution
Act (“MVRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 3663A, we begin, as usual, with
the text of those statutes. The VWPA provides:
The court, when sentencing a defendant convicted of
an offense under this title . . . may order, in addition
6566 UNITED STATES v. RICH
to or, in the case of a misdemeanor, in lieu of any
other penalty authorized by law, that the defendant
make restitution to any victim of such offense, or if
the victim is deceased, to the victim’s estate. The
court may also order, if agreed to by the parties in a
plea agreement, restitution to persons other than the
victim of the offense.
18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)(1)(A) (emphasis added).
The MVRA provides similarly:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when
sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense
described in subsection (c), the court shall order, in
addition to, or in the case of a misdemeanor, in addi-
tion to or in lieu of, any other penalty authorized by
law, that the defendant make restitution to the victim
of the offense or, if the victim is deceased, to the vic-
tim’s estate.
Id. § 3663A(a)(1) (emphasis added).
[8] In providing that a court “may” or “shall” impose resti-
tution “when sentencing a defendant convicted of an offense
under this title, [etc.],” id. § 3663(a)(1), § 3663A(a)(1), the
statutes require that the defendant first must be “convicted of
an offense” so enumerated to support an order of restitution.
In this case, such offenses are listed in section 3663A(c)
because restitution was imposed pursuant to the MVRA.
Abatement of the convictions for those offenses, thus, nulli-
fies the accompanying restitution order. See Parsons, 367
F.3d at 416 (embracing this interpretation); Logal, 106 F.3d
at 1552 (same).
1
The government contends that the passages also could be
read narrowly that a conviction is merely a condition-
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6567
precedent to imposition of an order of restitution. See Par-
sons, 367 F.3d at 416 (recognizing this alternative reading);
id. at 421 n.3 (Dennis, J., dissenting) (advancing the alterna-
tive reading). On this theory, abatement of the conviction
would not nullify a restitution order, which instead stands on
its own after it is imposed following conviction.
But such interpretation leads to an absurd result because of
the statutory construction canon that words should be con-
strued consistently throughout an entire statute. Ratzlaf v.
United States, 510 U.S. 135, 143 (1994). Section 3664(l) pro-
vides that “[a] conviction of a defendant for an offense involv-
ing the act giving rise to an order of restitution shall estop the
defendant from denying the essential allegations of that
offense in any subsequent Federal civil proceeding or State
civil proceeding, to the extent consistent with State law,
brought by the victim.” 18 U.S.C. § 3664(l) (emphasis added).
If we were to read this clause according to Rich’s interpreta-
tion, then “an estate would be estopped from denying impor-
tant factual matters in a subsequent civil suit, even if the
underlying conviction had been abated.” Parsons, 367 F.3d at
417 (emphasis in original). But that would be absurd. Id.
2
The common law doctrine of abatement ab initio confirms
our interpretation of the statute. We interpret statutes to be
consistent with established common law absent a clear indica-
tion to the contrary. See, e.g., Midlantic Nat’l Bank v. New
Jersey Dep’t of Envtl. Protection, 474 U.S. 494, 501 (1986).
Significantly, a “fundamental principle of our jurisprudence
from which the abatement principle is derived is that a crimi-
nal conviction is not final until resolution of the defendant’s
appeal as a matter of right.” Logal, 106 F.3d at 1552 (citing
Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956)). Otherwise, courts
would have to choose among disregarding a finding of guilt,
entering an unreviewed judgment, or adjudicating an imagi-
nary appeal of a deceased defendant’s conviction.
6568 UNITED STATES v. RICH
[9] The Restitution Order must be abated because “the
defendant is no longer a wrongdoer” once his conviction has
abated. Parsons, 367 F.3d at 416. Just as it is inappropriate to
impose restitution on a living individual who was never
indicted or convicted, so it is inappropriate to impose restitu-
tion on the estate of a deceased individual who, in the eyes of
the law, was never indicted or convicted. Abatement ab initio
means what it says.
B
The government raises two structural arguments despite
such textual analysis.
1
The government first argues that the VWPA and MVRA
foreclose the applicability of the abatement ab initio principle
to a restitution order. The government observes that the ab
initio principle traditionally has applied only to penal, not
compensatory, remedies. It argues that a restitution order
under the VWPA or MVRA is the equivalent of a civil judg-
ment, such that it is heritable, assignable, and transformable
into a lien. See Parsons, 367 F.3d at 420-22 (Dennis, J., dis-
senting). In this view, restitution is civil in nature, and thus
compensatory; such orders should not be abated.
There are several problems with this argument. First, we
have held repeatedly that “restitution payments have both
compensatory and penal purposes.” Cloud II, 921 F.2d at 226;
see United States v. Cloud, 872 F.2d at 846, 854 (9th Cir.
1989) (“Cloud I”) (“Criminal restitution [is] a means of
achieving penal objectives such as deterrence, rehabilitation,
or retribution.”); United States v. Keith, 754 F.2d 1388, 1392
(9th Cir. 1985) (“Congress made restitution under the [Victim
and Witness Protection] Act a criminal penalty.”). Other cir-
cuits have held similarly. Logal, 106 F.3d at 1552 (ruling res-
titution is penal); Christopher, 273 F.3d at 299 (noting that
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6569
restitution is penal and compensatory). But see United States
v. Bach, 172 F.3d 520, 522-23 (7th Cir. 1999). The govern-
ment’s argument fails first because restitution is not solely
compensatory.
Second, and more importantly, the government’s argument
improperly assumes that the distinction between the compen-
satory and the penal is the sole rationale for the abatement ab
initio doctrine. But that doctrine rests on the principle “that a
criminal conviction is not final until resolution of the defen-
dant’s appeal as a matter of right.” Logal, 106 F.3d at 1552
(adopting what it called the “finality principle”); Parsons, 367
F.3d at 414 (adopting the “finality principle” after extensive
discussion). Indeed, death abates even the record of a criminal
conviction, as opposed to merely its use in collateral proceed-
ings, even though the former has no immediate penal effects.
Parsons, 347 F.3d at 414.
Furthermore, we have had occasion to rely on the distinc-
tion between the compensatory and the penal in the abatement
context. But, in those cases we typically drew broad distinc-
tions between remedies in criminal proceedings and remedies
in civil proceedings. Thus, in Oberlin we relied on the distinc-
tion between compensatory and penal remedies in a criminal
forfeiture case, regarding which we were able to hold that
“there is no doubt that it [the forfeiture] was essentially
penal.” 718 F.2d at 296. And in Reiserer v. United States, 479
F.3d 1160 (9th Cir. 2007), we relied on the distinction in a
case involving tax actions, about which were able to hold that
“[h]ere, it is clear that the legislature intended the penalties in
question to be civil.” Id. at 1162-63.
Restitution is not so obviously penal or compensatory.
Rather, as we have recognized, it is both compensatory to the
victim and penal to the defendant and the state. Cloud, 921
F.2d at 226 (“Classification of restitution payments as either
penal or uncompensatory is dependent on the particular con-
text in which this inquiry is conducted.”). That explains why
6570 UNITED STATES v. RICH
we have expressly declined to apply the distinction between
the penal and the compensatory to restitution abatement. Id.
(“Thus our task is not to decide whether restitution payments
under the VWPA are primarily penal or primarily compensa-
tory.”). We reaffirm that course today.
In the end, the government’s argument contains two false
premises. But even if it did not, at most it undermines our
view that the ab initio principle informs the provisions of the
VWPA and MVRA. But left remaining is the specific statu-
tory text, which, of course, prevails over broad structural con-
siderations. See Green v. Bock Laundry Mach. Co., 490 U.S.
504, 524-26 (1989).
2
The government also argues that abating the Restitution
Order frustrates the purposes of the VWPA and MVRA. In
the government’s view, those statutes are aimed at compen-
sating the victims of crime. To abate restitution orders, conse-
quently, gives the defendant’s heirs a “windfall” at the
expense of suffering victims. Parsons, 367 F.3d at 420 (Den-
nis, J., dissenting).
But, once again, abstract policy concerns cannot trump stat-
utory text. Further, abatement does not necessarily benefit the
heirs of the defendant at the expense of the defendant’s vic-
tims. On the contrary, “nothing precludes the victims from
bringing a separate civil action to prevent any improper bene-
fit to [the defendant’s] estate.” Logal, 106 F.3d at 1552.
V
[10] For the foregoing reasons,9 we REMAND to the dis-
9
Rich also challenges his conviction on several other grounds, including
the district court’s grant of the motion for joinder of his trial with Pac
Equities’ trial one week before trial began, the district court’s decision to
UNITED STATES v. RICH 6571
trict court with direction to VACATE the indictment, the
judgment of conviction, the sentence, the special fee assess-
ment, and the Restitution Order, but to RETAIN JURISDIC-
TION over all matters relating to the Receivership Order.
allow the prosecution’s hypothetical questions to investors about their reli-
ance on Rich’s misrepresentations, the district court’s decision to admit
the evidence regarding Rich’s prior problematic real estate practice in Col-
orado, and the district court’s failure to consider as a mitigating factor the
disparity of sentences between his and Ms. Rich’s sentences. Since Rich’s
conviction and Restitution Order are abated by his death, such issues are
moot.