United States v. Milovanovic

Brano Milovanovic and Tony Lamb (defendants) devised a scheme to help unqualified applicants obtain Washington State commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) in exchange for cash bribes. Washington requires applicants to be residents of the state, possess a Washington personal driver’s license, and pass both a written and a driving test. Milovanovic and Lamb assisted Ismail Hot, Muhamed Kovacic, Elvedin Bilanovic, and Aleksander Djordjevic (defendants) in fraudulently obtaining CDLs. Milovanovic, an independent contractor, served as a Bosnian translator for the written tests. He solicited out-of-state Bosnian residents for his scheme. During the written test, Milovanovic provided correct answers to the applicants. He recruited Lamb, also an independent contractor, to falsify the results of the driving-skills tests. Milovanovic solicited bribes of $2,500 from each applicant and paid Lamb several hundred dollars per applicant who he passed. The results of the tests were sent via US Mail for processing. As a result, the Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) issued CDLs to the unqualified applicants. The six defendants were indicted with multiple counts of mail fraud under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1346. The defendants moved to dismiss the indictment. The district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss because Milovanovic and Lamb were independent contractors. The district court also ruled that identifiable economic harm would have needed to be shown at trial to support a conviction. The government (plaintiff) appealed. A panel of the circuit court reversed and remanded the case. The court voted to rehear the case en banc.