In United States v. Myers, --- F.4th ---, No. 23-1034 (9th Cir. 2025), a divided court affirmed the district court’s order granting the government’s motion to turn over certain funds in Ronald Myers’s inmate trust account and apply them to Myers’s restitution obligation.
This decision could have a significant impact on any clients that receive, over time, substantial trust account deposits.
The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act requires an inmate who “receives substantial resources from any source, including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment” to put such resources toward unpaid restitution. 18 U.S.C. § 3664(n). The question here is whether this provision applies to the gradual accumulation of cash deposits from family and friends in an inmate’s trust account. We hold that it does. Because § 3664(n) authorizes a district court to turn over periodic deposits that substantially accrue in an inmate’s account, we affirm.Myers, like other federal inmates, has a trust account maintained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). See 28 C.F.R. §§ 506.1, 506.2. Since 2013, over $30,500 has been deposited in Myers’s account. Most deposits ($27,872) were from family and friends. The rest ($2,747) were prison wages. Myers claims he saved some of the money, but records show he spent most of it. Over nine years, Myers donated $1,580 to charity, sent $1,334 to other individuals, and spent about $128 on subscriptions. He spent the remainder at the prison commissary. As of late 2022, Myers’s account contained $1,622.Myers still owes his victims over $35,000 in restitution. So when the government discovered the activity on Myers’s trust account, it asked the district court to direct BOP to turn over most of the remaining funds and apply them to Myers’s obligation. The government disclaimed any efforts to target Myers’s prison wages. But as to the accumulated deposits from family and friends, the government invoked the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA), which requires an inmate who “receives substantial resources from any source, including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment, . . . to apply the value of such resources to any restitution or fine still owed.” Pub. L. No. 104-132, § 206(a), 110 Stat. 1227, 1235–36 (1996) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3664(n)).The district court granted the turnover motion.
On appeal, the majority held: "Section 3664(n) provides that if an inmate “receives substantial resources from any source, including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment,” he “shall be required to apply the value of such resources to any restitution or fine still owed.” 18 U.S.C. § 3664(n). In interpreting this provision, we face two related questions. Is § 3664(n) restricted to payments from a single source? And does the statute’s reference to “inheritance, settlement, or other judgment” limit its application to sudden financial windfalls? Addressing each question in turn, we hold that § 3664(n) applies not just to one-time financial windfalls, but also to substantial aggregated sums from multiple sources—like family and friends—that gradually accrue in an inmate’s trust account."
Judge McKeown wrote a compelling dissent:
Under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(n), a defendant who “receives substantial resources from any source, including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment, during a period of incarceration” is required to “apply the value of such resources to any restitution or fine still owed.” The most logical interpretation of this statute is that it applies only to resources that are substantial at the time of receipt.The text of § 3664(n), though brief, contains key terms— “receives,” “substantial resources,” “from any source,” “including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment.” Although the statute applies during a defendant’s incarceration, it must be read in conjunction with 18 U.S.C. § 3664(k), which requires both incarcerated and released defendants 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 restitution.” Both subsections serve the common policy goal of ensuring victims receive restitution.Section 3664(n) is susceptible to competing interpretations. It might apply only to windfalls, in line with Myers’s position and the view taken by the First, Fifth, and Sixth Circuits. See United States v. Saemisch, 70 F.4th 1, 6 (1st Cir. 2023) (“[T]he MVRA requires certain defendants to apply to their restitution obligation any sudden windfalls they receive.”); United States v. Hughes, 914 F.3d 947, 951 (5th Cir. 2019) (“[W]e think [§ 3664(n)] refers to windfalls or sudden financial injections.”); United States v. Carson, 55 F.4th 1053, 1056 (6th Cir. 2022) (describing § 3664(n) as a “windfall provision”). This approach interprets the phrase “including inheritance, settlement, or other judgment” to cabin the nature of the source and limit the provision to singular, large, and unanticipated gains. Alternatively, as the majority urges, § 3664(n) could apply to any substantial aggregated amount, including amounts originating from multiple distinct sources over any period. No appellate court has adopted this view. Or § 3664(n) could apply to a substantial amount, from any source, so long as the amount is substantial at the time it is received.I think the last interpretation—that substantiality is measured at the time of receipt—is the most straightforward and logical reading of the text based on § 3664(n)’s use of the present tense “receives.” The parties’ and the majority’s arguments in favor of the two other alternatives—that § 3664(n) applies only to windfalls, or that it applies to aggregated amounts—do not persuade me otherwise.
