In United States v. Prasad, --- F.4th ---, No. 19-10454 (9th Cir. 2021), the Court affirmed the district court’s forfeiture order under 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii) in the amount of $1,193,440.87, in a case in which a jury convicted Abhijit Prasad of twenty-one counts of visa fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a), and two counts of aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A(a)(1).
The case is about how to measure the forfeitable amount under the statute. As a result of the visa fraud, Prasad's company was paid $1,193,440.87 but most of that money was then paid to the visa recipients as wages for their legitimate work. Prasad's profit from the scheme was $238,688.17.
- The government argued that $1,193,440.87 “represent[s] the amount of proceeds Prasad obtained as a result of the criminal conduct for which he was convicted.” Prasad opposed the government’s motion but did not dispute that Maremarks received $1,193,440.87 from the end-clients for the work the H-1B beneficiaries performed. Instead, Prasad argued that the most the court could order him to forfeit was $238,688.17, which was the estimated amount he kept after paying the beneficiary employees for the work they performed for the end-clients.5 The district court disagreed and ordered forfeiture in the full amount the government requested. Prasad filed a timely notice of appeal, see Fed. R. App. P. 4(b)(1), and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
- Under our precedent, it does not matter that Prasad paid portions of the $1,193,440.87 to the H-1B beneficiaries and at that point no longer possessed those portions.
- Thus, 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I) only requires that the government show that the defendant had possession of the property at some point to establish that the defendant “obtained” it. See id. In sum, because Prasad controlled the $1,193,440.87, he possessed it and so necessarily had obtained it. We therefore conclude that Prasad “obtained” the $1,193,440.87 that the end-clients paid to Maremarks.
- Considering the term “proceeds” in the context of the forfeiture statute, the statute’s punitive purpose, and our prior construction of virtually identical criminal forfeiture provisions, we conclude that the term “proceeds” extends to receipts and is not limited to profit.
- In sum, while the term “proceeds” is ambiguous on its own, we must look to the entire text of a statutory provision when interpreting the meaning of a particular term. Here, placing “proceeds” in its proper context by interpreting it in light of the term “obtained” and 21 U.S.C. § 853(c) (as incorporated by 18 U.S.C. § 982(b)) supports that “proceeds” under 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I) denotes receipts.
- In sum, we have consistently held that “proceeds” means receipts when used in criminal forfeiture provisions that are materially similar to 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I), specifically 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(2), 18 U.S.C. § 1963(a)(3), and 21 U.S.C. § 853(a)(1). We see no reason to make § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I) an outlier, especially considering the statutes’ nearly identical language and shared punitive purpose. United States v. Novak, 476 F.3d 1041, 1051 (9th Cir. 2007) (en banc) (“[C]ourts generally interpret similar language in different statutes in a like manner when the two statutes address a similar subject matter.” (citations omitted)).
- The term “proceeds” under 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I) could mean either profits or receipts. However, in the context of the entire text of the provision, the punitive purpose of 18 U.S.C. § 982, and our prior construction of substantially similar criminal forfeiture provisions, we conclude that the better construction is that “proceeds” means receipts. The term “proceeds” is not limited to Prasad’s profits. Rather, Prasad must forfeit the receipts he “obtained directly or indirectly from” his commission of visa fraud. 18 U.S.C. § 982(a)(6)(A)(ii)(I). Thus, the district court did not err by including the portions of the $1,193,440.87 that Prasad received from the end clients and paid the H-1B beneficiaries as wages in its calculation of the “proceeds” subject to forfeiture.
