United States v. Erlikh

Type

Opinion of the Court

Author

Robert E. Cowen

Filed

April 18, 2002

Case

United States v. Erlikh

Case status

Decided

The first passage of the document, as extracted by the source provider.

OPINION COWEN, Circuit Judge. Presented for our review is one of four companion cases involving a lengthy trial before the District Court after which defendants were convicted of various federal crimes arising out of a so-called “daisy chain” scheme to avoid paying federal and New Jersey state fuel taxes. The elements of such schemes have been detailed sufficiently elsewhere by this Court. See, e.g., United States v. Morelli, 169 F.3d 798, 801 (3d Cir.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 820 , 120 S.Ct. 63 , 145 L.Ed.2d 54 (1999) (citations omitted). We will add factual detail below as it becomes necessary to the alleged point of error. Igor Erlikh was the president of Kings Motor Oil, a wholesale distributor of home heating oil and motor oil. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Erlikh pled guilty to: (1) violating 18 U.S.C. § 371 by conspiring to defraud the United States and to commit tax evasion, contrary to the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 , to commit wire fraud ( 18 U.S.C. § 1343 ), and to commit money laundering ( 18 U.S.C. § 1957 ); (2) money laundering ( 18 U.S.C. § 1957 ); and (3) tax evasion ( 26 U.S.C. § 7201 ). The District Court sentenced Erlikh to 108 months of imprisonment, ord…

Source Extract supplied by CourtListener. Benchlight does not host the document — read the authoritative text in the court's own PDF.