In United States v. Capps, the 3rd Circuit ruled that the District Court plainly erred when it applied two enhancements—the abuse of trust adjustment and the gross receipts adjustment—to the defendant’s sentence. The District Court erroneously relied on the defendant’s position at Vanguard and his conduct related to the conspiracy to commit mail fraud, not on any position he had or anything he did in laundering stolen funds. The 3rd Circuit held that the abuse of a position of trust has to be manifested in how the money is laundered, not in how the money was gained. Moreover, the record was not clear as to whether the defendant met the threshold for the gross receipts adjustment to apply.
