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''United States v. Vampire Nation'', 451 F.3d 189, is a 2006 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit regarding the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and asset forfeiture. A three-judge panel unanimously affirmed the conviction and sentence of Frederick Banks, a Pittsburgh man, on numerous felony charges resulting from fraudulent schemes carried out over the Internet. The case takes its title, which has been singled out as memorable and included among lists of amusingly titled cases, from one of Banks' aliases, an electronic music group of which he was the sole regular member. He had filed the appeal under that name while representing himself. Banks had been offering discounted versions of Microsoft software online under different names as an Amazon.com reseller. His products were either pirated or deficient, costing some customers thousands of dollars, and eventually one complained to the FBI, who arrested Banks after a short investigation. At trial a jury convicted him of mail fraud, criminal copyright infringement and several other charges. The judge sentenced Banks to five years in prison, varying the sentence upward by three months from the maximum range specified by the sentencing guidelines. An ''in personam'' criminal forfeiture judgment was also entered against him. Banks appealed to the Third Circuit, citing those among seven possible grounds for reversing the conviction. Foremost among them, he argued that notice of the possibility of variance was required prior to the sentencing and that the district court lacked the statutory authority to order the criminal forfeiture. Judge Franklin Van Antwerpen wrote for the panel, which ruled for the government on all the issues. Other circuits had ruled on the variance issue, and he joined four of them in holding that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(h), which required a court to notify lawyers in advance of a contemplated departure, did not impose the same requirement on a variance. The forfeiture was likewise permitted since the mail fraud statute provided for civil forfeiture and, while it explicitly provided for criminal forfeiture only in cases where a financial institution was victimized, he did not find that Congress intended to limit it only to those cases via "a chain of cross-references."〔''(United States v. Vampire Nation )]'', 451 F.3d 189, 200 (3rd Cir. 2006)〕 ==Investigation and prosecution== Under the names Rick Burgess and John Cain, Banks started offering Microsoft software for resale on Amazon.com in 2002. Amazon's policy, which Banks was made aware of when he opened the account, required that all such products offered for sale through the site by third parties such as himself be the full retail version, not copies or duplicates. Banks sold several copies of software over the next year. "These buyers," Van Antwerpen recounted, "suspected that the software they purchased from Banks was illegally copied because the compact discs ("CDs") they received from Banks contained generic white CDs with fake labels and fake package inserts."〔''Vampire Nation'' 451 F.3d at 193–195〕 Some complained to Amazon, and at the beginning of the following year Amazon terminated the "Cain and Burgess" account for violating its policies. Banks opened a new account under the name Mark Howard and resumed his activities. Court documents identified one buyer as Action Software, Inc., which bought $294,859.00 worth of Microsoft products through the site. Though the order should have filled approximately 50 boxes, only 5 boxes were shipped by Banks via UPS. Even more suspiciously, the CDs in the boxes bore the name of IBM. Action Software was not able to recoup the nearly $50,000 it had laid out since the order was cash on delivery.〔 When Banks denied any wrongdoing, Action Software contacted the FBI. In May 2003 the FBI obtained a search warrant and combed Banks' house, coming up with "computers, blank CDs, a CD duplicating machine, and empty boxes from Microsoft and IBM software". On the computers were "images of the front and back sides of Microsoft software boxes".〔 Banks continued offering software for sale on Amazon and later he approached VioSoftware, a Colorado reseller from whom he had purchased Microsoft software the year before. He persuaded Warren Do, the company's chief executive officer, to sell him nearly $60,000 worth of Microsoft products COD. Banks paid with a forged check. When Do found out, he asked for the software back and told Banks he had been talking to the FBI. The two agreed that Do would return the check if Banks returned the software. Do was subpoenaed by a grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania the next day, and told Banks via email that he had told the FBI all about their arrangement. In reply Banks pleaded with him not to tell the grand jury anything as "this would all be for nothing."〔 Instead of returning what he had bought from VioSoftware, Banks shipped some of it to his other customers. What he did return later on was damaged. Do's contact with the FBI led to another search of Banks' house in September, yielding computers with evidence of software piracy and various Microsoft products and packaging.〔 A week later, a grand jury returned a five-count indictment against Banks that would be amended and superseded twice over the next year.〔 Ultimately, Banks was charged with three counts of mail fraud and one count each of criminal copyright infringement, uttering and possessing counterfeit or forged securities, money laundering and witness tampering, all felonies. The case went to trial for ten days in October 2004. Banks was convicted on all counts. At the sentencing hearing five months later, Judge Thomas Hardiman added three months to the 46–57 month advisory range derived from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, imposing a prison sentence of 60 months followed by three years of supervised release. The judge also entered an ''in personam'' criminal forfeiture judgment against Banks for $70,708.59, the total amount he had made from his crimes.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States v. Vampire Nation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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