Government's Motion for Order Finding Defendant in Breach of Plea Agreement

Summary

Government's Motion for Order Finding Defendant in Breach of Plea Agreement against Christopher John Badsey, filed February 23, 2024 as Document 82 in No. SA CR 21-124-JLS, with a hearing date of April 12, 2024. He was charged with four counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering after falsely promising to sell millions of boxes of nitrile gloves in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government says his sentencing position attached forged character letters and a purported medical record, and that after his initial appearance, in 2021, he forged his surety's signature. It asks the court to find a breach and release the government from its promise to recommend a low-end sentence.

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“Government's Motion for Order Finding Defendant in Breach of Plea Agreement.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/court-filing-c-d-cal-no-8-21-cr-00124-dkt-82-c-d-cal-83ac33b6bb/, SHA-256 9f63235feae67efc2f5968f510154734e034bc16b0898b1917bb2a5e66b15093.

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Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 1 of 6 Page ID #:433

1 E. MARTIN ESTRADA
United States Attorney
2 MACK E. JENKINS
Assistant United States Attorney
3 Chief, Criminal Division
BENJAMIN R. BARRON
4 Assistant United States Attorney
Chief, Santa Ana Branch Office
5 KRISTIN N. SPENCER (Cal. Bar No. 294692)
MELISSA S. RABBANI (Cal. Bar No. 283993)
6 Assistant United States Attorneys
U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
7 411 West Fourth Street, Suite 8000
Santa Ana, California 92701
8 Telephone: (714) 338-3500
Facsimile: (714) 338-3561
9 E-mail: kristin.spencer@usdoj.gov
melissa.rabbani@usdoj.gov
10
Attorneys for Plaintiff
11 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

13 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

14
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. SA CR 21-124-JLS
15
Plaintiff, GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR ORDER
16 FINDING DEFENDANT IN BREACH OF
v. PLEA AGREEMENT
17
CHRISTOPHER JOHN BADSEY, Hearing Date: April 12, 2024
18 10:30 a.m.
Defendant.
19

22 Plaintiff United States of America, by and through its counsel
23 of record, the United States Attorney for the Central District of
24 California and Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin Spencer and
25 Melissa Rabbani, hereby moves the Court for an order finding
26 defendant Christopher John Badsey in breach of the plea agreement
27 filed in this matter on April 7, 2023.
28 At a hearing in this matter on February 9, 2024, the government
Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 2 of 6 Page ID #:434

1 notified defendant’s newly appointed counsel, Patrick McLaughlin, of

2 the substance of this motion.

3 The government’s motion is based upon the attached memorandum of

4 points and authorities, the attached declaration of Melissa Rabbani

5 and exhibits thereto, the files and records in this case, and any

6 other evidence or argument that the Court may permit.

8 Dated: February 23, 2024 Respectfully submitted,

9 E. MARTIN ESTRADA
United States Attorney
10
MACK E. JENKINS
11 Assistant United States Attorney
Chief, Criminal Division
12

13 _/s/ Melissa S. Rabbani_______
KRISTIN N. SPENCER
14 MELISSA S. RABBANI
Assistant United States Attorney
15
Attorneys for Plaintiff
16 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
17

2
Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 3 of 6 Page ID #:435

1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES

2 I. INTRODUCTION

3 Defendant Christopher John Badsey (“defendant”) was charged with

4 four counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering after

5 falsely promising to sell millions of boxes of nitrile gloves to

6 buyers in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, just

7 before trial, defendant signed a plea agreement. Under the terms of

8 the agreement, defendant promised, among other things, to plead

9 guilty to the wire fraud counts and to be truthful in his

10 communications with the United States Probation and Pretrial Services

11 Office (the “USPO”) and the Court. In exchange, the government

12 agreed to dismiss the money laundering counts and to recommend a

13 sentence at the low end of the resulting Guidelines range.

14 Sentencing was initially scheduled for February 9, 2024.

15 Defendant submitted a sentencing position on January 26, 2024,

16 attaching a number of exhibits, including “multiple letters of

17 support” from purported friends and acquaintances and a purported

18 medical “record” documenting a brain cancer diagnosis from 2017. See

19 Dkt. 72 at 3; Dkt. 72-1 at 10, 12-28. The USPO and the government

20 contacted several of the purported authors of those character letters

21 and learned not only that those letters had been forged, but that

22 following his initial appearance in 2021, defendant forged the

23 signature of his purported surety, Trevor Ullom, and used a copy of

24 Mr. Ullom’s driver’s license without authorization.

25 Plainly, defendant has breached his plea agreement: he has been

26 profoundly untruthful in his communications with this Court.

27 The government respectfully requests that the Court enter an

28 order finding that defendant has breached his plea agreement. Upon
Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 4 of 6 Page ID #:436

1 such a finding, the government will be released from its obligations

2 under the plea agreement, including its promise to recommend a

3 sentence at the low end of the applicable Guidelines range.

4 II. RELEVANT FACTS

5 Defendant’s sentencing position attaches character references

6 from seven people: Frances Smith, a family counselor who worked with

7 defendant and his daughter; Trevor Ullom, who worked with defendant

8 in the Boy Scouts of America; Steve Morris, a retired Navy officer

9 and Special Agent who “share[d] a close bond of friendship of 33

10 years” with defendant; David Brackmann, a “licensed broker” who has

11 known defendant for “31 years”; Marco Antonnio Ribas, who “share[d] a

12 close bond of friendship of more than twenty three years of business,

13 fishing, and friendship” with defendant; John Cooper, a “retired

14 deputy Orange County Sheriff” who has “personally known” defendant

15 for 25 years; and Wayne Harmond, a construction executive who has

16 been friends with defendant for 18 years. Dkt. 72-1 at 12-28. The

17 sentencing position also attaches a purported medical record from St.

18 Joseph Health, dated in June 2017, diagnosing defendant with “Frontal

19 Lobal Stage IV cancer” and affirming that the “Frontal Lobal Tumor”

20 causes “behavioral, and emotional changes, impaired Judgement, memory

21 loss, paralysis on one side of the body, reduced mental abilities and

22 vision loss.” Dkt. 72-1 at 10.

23 On their face, many of the documents defendant submitted appear

24 questionable. Many of the character references are written in a

25 similar style, and several refer to the same or similar seemingly

26 irrelevant details. The purported medical record clearly does not

27 look like an authentic medical record and is replete with spelling

28 and grammatical errors.

2
Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 5 of 6 Page ID #:437

1 After reviewing defendant’s sentencing position, U.S. Probation

2 Officer Leslie de la Torre contacted several of the purported authors

3 of the character letters. David Brackmann confirmed that he knew

4 defendant and that he, along with several more of the purported

5 authors – Marco Ribas, Steve Morris, and Wayne Harmond – had met

6 defendant on fishing expeditions. Declaration of Melissa Rabbani

7 (“Rabbani Decl.”) ¶ 4. However, Mr. Brackmann told Officer de la

8 Torre that he did not write a character letter for defendant. Id.

9 Mr. Brackmann also gave Officer de la Torre contact information for

10 Mr. Morris and Mr. Harmond. Id.

11 Officer de la Torre then contacted Mr. Morris and Mr. Harmond,
12 both of whom denied writing any character letter for defendant.
13 Rabbani Decl. ¶ 5. Mr. Harmond added that he had not had any contact
14 with defendant for over 15 years. Id.
15 Finally, Officer de la Torre contacted Robert Trevor Ullom, who
16 stated that he had met defendant only four years ago and had not
17 written any character letter for defendant. Rabbani Decl. ¶ 6.
18 Officer de la Torre also sent Mr. Ullom a surety form that defendant
19 submitted to the Court in July 2021, purporting to bear Mr. Ullom’s

20 signature and containing his address and the last four digits of his

21 Social Security Number. Officer de la Torre also sent Mr. Ullom a

22 copy of Mr. Ullom’s driver’s license that the Federal Public

23 Defender’s office had sent to the government when seeking approval of

24 the surety form. Id. ¶ 7; Dkts. 14, 15. Mr. Ullom told Officer de

25 la Torre that he had never signed the surety form. He also explained

26 that he had sent a copy of his driver’s license to defendant years

27 ago when applying for a job with defendant’s company, but had not

28 authorized defendant to use his license for the surety form. Id.

3
Case 8:21-cr-00124-JLS Document 82 Filed 02/23/24 Page 6 of 6 Page ID #:438

1 III. ARGUMENT

2 Plea bargains are “contractual in nature” and subject to

3 contract-law standards. United States v. Sandoval-Lopez, 122 F.3d

4 797, 800 (9th Cir. 1997). Thus, “either party can be said to

5 ‘breach’ a plea bargain if it fails to live up to the promises it

6 made under the terms of the agreement.” Id. Where a defendant has

7 breached the plea agreement, “courts have found the government to be

8 free from its obligations.” Id. (citations omitted). The government

9 bears the burden of demonstrating a defendant’s breach by a

10 preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Plascensia-Orozco,

11 852 F.3d 910, 920 (9th Cir. 2017) (citing United States v. Packwood,
12 848 F.2d 1009, 1011 (9th Cir. 1988)).
13 Here, the plea agreement plainly requires defendant to “[b]e
14 truthful at all times with the United States Probation and Pretrial
15 Services Office and the Court.” Dkt. 57 at 2(f).
16 The evidence in this case makes abundantly clear that defendant
17 knowingly and willfully submitted forged and fraudulent documents to
18 this Court – first in 2021 to secure his release on bond, and again
19 in 2024 in the hopes of lowering his sentence. Defendant has

20 repeatedly failed to be truthful in his communications with the

21 Court. He has repeatedly and willfully breached the terms of his

22 plea agreement, and the government should be released from its

23 obligations under that agreement.

24 IV. CONCLUSION

25 As set forth above, the government respectfully requests that

26 this Court enter an order finding that defendant has breached the

27 plea agreement filed on April 7, 2023, and that the government is

28 released from its obligations under that agreement.

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