Background
Defendants Blade Bai, Bowen Hu, and Tairan Shi participated in a scheme to launder Target gift cards purchased by telephone scam victims. They received card numbers via encrypted messaging, used runners to purchase electronics, and resold them to generate funds. Bai was arrested but continued the scheme, leading to additional charges. The district court sentenced them based on a loss amount of approximately two point five million dollars and applied various enhancements.
The court’s reasoning
The panel held that intended loss may be included in the value of laundered funds under Section two S one point one. The court found the loss calculation reasonable. However, the panel determined that the sophisticated laundering enhancement under Section two S one point one subsection B three requires the prior application of the business-of-laundering enhancement under Section two S one point one subsection B two subsection C. Since the district court applied the enhancement without satisfying this prerequisite, the ruling was reversed on that specific point.
What it means going forward
Defendants will undergo a limited resentencing to correct the guideline calculation for the sophisticated laundering enhancement, while other sentencing factors remain in place.