United States v. Santos

553 U.S. 507 (2008)

From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

United States v. Santos

United States Supreme Court
553 U.S. 507 (2008)

Play video

Facts

Santos (defendant) ran an illegal lottery in Indiana for approximately 20 years. Santos employed runners to gather the bets in bars and restaurants from gamblers. The runners gave the money from the bets, after keeping a portion as their commission, to Santos’s collectors, who then turned the money over to Santos. Santos used the money to pay his collectors, pay the eventual lottery winners, and presumedly to make a profit himself. Santos and some coconspirators were charged with a number of crimes, including money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1), based on the transactions between the runners, the collectors, and Santos. Santos was convicted and filed motions attacking the convictions with the district court. The district court dismissed all of the motions except the challenge to the money-laundering charge. The district court found that a Seventh Circuit case, United States v. Scialabba, 282 F.3d 475 (2002), had ruled that the prohibition in § 1956(a)(1) against money laundering criminal proceeds applied only to criminal profits, not receipts. The district court then held that the transactions in question in Santos’s case amounted only to receipts and therefore vacated that conviction. The court of appeals affirmed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Scalia, J.)

Concurrence (Stevens, J.)

Dissent (Alito, J.)

Dissent (Breyer, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 798,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials
  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 798,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 798,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership