Sokpa-Anku v. Lynch, No. 15-3230 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, a citizen of Ghana and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was convicted of three counts of medical assistance fraud in violation of Minn. Stat. 609.466. DHS commenced removal proceedings based on the ground that petitioner was removable because he had been convicted of an aggravated felony pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii). The BIA agreed and ordered petitioner removed to Ghana. Petitioner seeks review of the BIA's decision. In this case, there is one conviction, and the total loss is directly tied to three specific fraud counts “covered by the conviction.” The court need not decide whether totally unrelated fraud counts in a single conviction may be aggregated. As the BIA recognized, petitioner's three fraud counts of conviction were part of a sufficiently interrelated fraud to warrant aggregation, whether or not the criminal complaint included an express allegation of conspiracy or scheme to defraud. Likewise, the order to pay an aggregated restitution amount demonstrated that petitioner did not commit multiple, unrelated frauds. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review.
Court Description: Loken, Author, with Wollman and Benton, Circuit Judges] Petition for Review - Immigration. The BIA did not err in finding that petitioner's three fraud counts of conviction were part of a sufficiently interrelated fraud to warrant aggregation of the losses, whether or not the criminal complaint included an express allegation of conspiracy or scheme to defraud; likewise, the order to pay an aggregated restitution amount demonstrated that petitioner did not commit multiple, unrelated frauds; as a result, he was properly ordered removed for having committed an aggravated felony by committing an offense involving fraud which resulted in a loss exceeding $10,000.
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