cmkxunitedforum.proboards.com/thread/15326/glisson-sentenced-custody-federal-prison#ixzz37YAOJydGUNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEVADA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff
vs.
MARCO GLISSON,
Defendant
Case No. 2:12-CR-484-LRH-VCF
UNITED STATES’ MOTION
FOR DOWNWARD DEPARTURE
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by and through its undersigned attorneys, hereby moves that the Court depart downward 2 Levels from the otherwise applicable sentencing range pursuant to ' 5K1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines in recognition of the substantial assistance that the defendant has provided in the investigation and prosecution of others.
I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This case arises from the ashes of CMKM Diamonds, Inc. (“CMKM”). CMKM was a publicly traded corporate shell used as a vehicle by Urban Casavant and his co-conspirators to perpetrate a massive securities fraud scheme (described in greater detail in the indictment pending in 2:09-cr-132-JAD-GWF). Although purportedly a multinational diamond exploration and mining company, CMKM had few assets, did not conduct substantial or sustained mining operations or regular business activities, and never commercially produced or
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 2 of 7
sold diamonds. Indeed, CMKM’s sole product was shares of its own stock: during the span from 2003 to 2005, the schemers issued approximately seven hundred billion (700,000,000,000) unregistered shares of CMKM stock to themselves, their associates, their nominees and straw-purchasers.
Abetted by Helen Bagley (CMKM’s complicit stock transfer agent) and a collusive attorney, most of those shares were fraudulently issued to the schemers without restrictive legends under the false pretense that those shares fell within the exemption carved out in Rule 144(k) and could be publicly offered and sold as free-trading shares. Casavant and his accomplices and nominees surreptitiously flooded the market with hundreds of billions of unregistered shares of CMKM stock. The conspirators realized more than sixty million dollars ($60,000,000) from the fraudulent public sale of hundreds of billions of unregistered shares of CMKM stock before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deregistered CMKM in October 2005.
After the SEC deregistered CMKM, several of the conspirators moved on to repeat the scheme (on smaller scales) using other corporate shells. Casavant, on the other hand, was not ready to abandon the lucrative CMKM scheme. Casavant held or controlled billions of unregistered shares of CMKM stock which had been issued to straw purchasers. Notwithstanding that the SEC had deregistered CMKM and effectively barred the public sale of CMKM stock, Casavant (abetted by Bagley) set about selling those shares.
As part of their scheme, Casavant and his co-conspirators had fraudulently evaded filing registration statements and periodic reports with the SEC. In the absence of meaningful disclosures regarding its activities and shares, myths were cultivated and grew in internet chat rooms and message boards which eclipsed reality. Notwithstanding the fact that CMKM was a hollow shell with no viable business or mining operations, the myths and the demand for
2
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 3 of 7
CMKM stock endured. Beginning in late 2005, MARCO GLISSON stepped into this void and began publicly offering and selling CMKM stock over the internet. Although GLISSON was not a registered broker or dealer of securities, he acted as a dealer and engaged in the business of offering and selling CMKM stock. While GLISSON occasionally purchased relatively small numbers of CMKM shares over the internet from diverse individuals, GLISSON conspired with Casavant and Bagley to purchased billions of shares of CMKM stock controlled by Casavant as well as billions of shares of stock with Casavant and Bagley misappropriated from their rightful owner. GLISSON used the internet, the interstate wire, the mails, and other instruments of interstate commerce, to offer and sell CMKM stock which he had purchased from Casavant and others.
During the span from December 2005 through May 2006, GLISSON sold billions of shares of CMKM stock which he had acquired from Casavant and others to at least 65 different individuals in the United States and Canada. In June 2006, the SEC contacted GLISSON regarding his dealing in CMKM stock and advised him that it was illegal to publicly offer and sell unregistered securities through instruments and means of interstate commerce. GLISSON informed the SEC that he would discontinue dealing in CMKM stock. GLISSON suspended trading in CMKM stock for approximately three months, but he resumed offering and selling shares of CMKM stock through the internet in or around September 2006. GLISSON actively engaged in the business of buying and selling CMKM stock until approximately April 2007. In or around April 2007, GLISSON’s dealing in CMKM stock was impeded when Bagley and 1st Global stopped serving as the transfer agent for CMKM. Additionally, by April 2007, investors’ interest in CMKM had waned.
GLISSON’s sales of billions of unregistered shares of CMKM stock in 2006 and 2007 yielded gross-receipts of more than $1,700,000. While GLISSON paid hundreds of thousands
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 4 of 7
of dollars to Casavant and others from whom he purchased CMKM stock, GLISSON realized a substantial profit from the sale of CMKM stock. On October 2, 2007, GLISSON filed a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for 2006 in which he self-assessed income tax in the sum of $306,285. GLISSON calculated that $300,690 of that tax had not been paid and was due and owed to the United States. On May 26, 2008, GLISSON filed a U.S. Individual Income Tax Return for 2007 in which he self-assessed income tax in the sum of $105,787. However, GLISSON did not pay that tax. Although GLISSON had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2006 and 2007 from dealing in CMKM stock, he did not pay taxes due and owing for those years. Rather than paying the income taxes due and owing, GLISSON concealed his money and assets from the United States Internal Revenue Service through various means and machinations.
Investor interest in CMKM stock was rekindled in 2010 by a spurious lawsuit (which was subsequently dismissed) and misrepresentations to the effect that the government had used CMKM as a vehicle for a “sting” operation and that CMKM shareholders were to share in a secret trust that purportedly held trillions of dollars. GLISSON then still held billions of shares of CMKM stock which he had previously purchased from CASAVANT, and the spurious misrepresentations and delusional demand for $3.87 trillion dollars enabled GLISSON (and others) to again sell CMKM stock through the internet and other instruments of interstate commerce. GLISSON received more than $1,400,000 in gross revenues from the sale of unregistered shares of CMKM stock in 2010. Although GLISSON had sufficient money to pay the income taxes due and owing for 2006 and 2007, he did not do so. To evade payment of his self-assessed taxes, GLISSON sold CMKM stock through nominees and straw-purchasers, and he held proceeds from the sale of CMKM stock in the name of his wife and other relatives.
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 5 of 7
On January 15, 2014, GLISSON pled guilty to both counts of the Superseding Criminal Information filed in this case pursuant to a plea agreement with the UNITED STATES. More specifically, GLISSON pled guilty to: (1) conspiring with others to commit an offense under Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C. §§ 77e(a)(1) and 77e(c), that is, to unlawfully use means and instruments of transportation and communication in interstate commerce to offer to sell, and to sell, unregistered securities, all in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; and (2) willfully attempting to evade and defeat the payment of income tax due and owing by him to the United States of America for calendar years 2006 and 2007 in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. As part of his plea agreement, defendant also agreed to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of others.
II. SENTENCING RANGE
A. Statutorily Authorized Sentence
The statutorily authorized penalty for conspiring to sell unregistered securities in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 as charged in Count One includes a term of imprisonment of not more than 5 years and a fine of not greater than twice the gross loss or, alternatively, not more than $250,000, or both. The statutorily authorized penalty for the felony offense of attempting to evade and defeat the payment of income tax in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 as charged in Count Two includes a term of imprisonment of not more than 5 years and a fine of not more than $100,000, or both. The aggregate maximum authorized term of imprisonment would be 10 years if the terms were imposed consecutively. These offenses do not have a statutorily mandated minimum sentence.
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 6 of 7
B. Sentencing Guidelines Range
In their plea agreement, the parties have calculated and recommended that defendant’s Adjusted Offense Level for the offense of conspiracy to sell unregistered securities is Level 25, and that the Adjusted Offense Level for the defendant’s tax evasion is Level 20. The parties have further recommended that these offenses should be grouped together pursuant to § 3D1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines because the offenses of conviction arose from the same series of transactions and were part of a common scheme involving the offer, sale, and proceeds from the sale, of unregistered shares of CMKM stock. By the parties’ calculations, defendant’s Group Offense Level is 25. Further, the parties recommend that defendant receive a 3 Level downward adjustment for Acceptance of Responsibility reducing his Total Offense Level to 22.
The Court’s Probation Officer’s calculations differ from the parties’ computations. While the Probation Officer has also determined that defendant’s conspiracy to sell unregistered securities has an Adjusted Offense Level of 25, the Probation Officer has added a 2 Level enhancement to defendant’s tax evasion offense which was not contemplated by the parties yielding an Adjusted Offense Level of 22 for that offense. Moreover, rather than grouping these offenses pursuant to § 3D1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines, the Probation Officer has combined the offenses pursuant to § 3D1.4 resulting in a Combined Offense Level of 26. Following a 3 Level adjustment for Acceptance of Responsibility, defendant’s Total Offense Level would be 23 by the Probation Officer’s assessment.
In preparing the Presentence Investigation Report, the Probation Officer reviewed defendant’s criminal record and determined that he falls within Criminal History Category II under the Sentencing Guidelines. (Defendant has filed an objection to the Probation Officer’s assessment of his Criminal History.)
If the Court concludes that defendant falls within Criminal History Category II,
Case 2:12-cr-00484-LRH-VCF Document 48 Filed 06/30/14 Page 7 of 7
defendant’s advisory sentencing range under the Sentencing Guidelines would be a term of 46 to 57 months imprisonment as calculated by the parties, or a term of 51 to 63 months imprisonment as calculated by the Court’s Probation Officer. (The advisory sentencing range would be reduced by approximately 5 months if the Court concludes that defendant falls within Criminal History Category I.)
III. RECOMMENDED DEPARTURE
As noted above, this defendant agreed to cooperate with the UNITED STATES as part of his plea agreement. Pursuant to that agreement, defendant met with government agents and attorneys and provided information regarding his dealings with Casavant, Bagley and others. Defendant also testified before a grand jury of this Court. Defendant provided material information to the government and was ready to testify against Casavant and Bagley at trial in 2:09-cr-132-JAD-GWF and potentially other actions.
Defendant’s cooperation with the UNITED STATES was cut short by the untimely deaths of both Casavant and Bagley. Bagley passed away in late 2013 following a lengthy illness. Casavant reportedly died unexpectedly in Canada earlier this year. Nonetheless, in recognition of defendant’s substantial assistance in the investigation of his co-conspirators, the UNITED STATES respectfully moves that the Court grant defendant a 2 Level downward departure pursuant to § 5K1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 30th day of June 2014.
Daniel G. Bogden
United States Attorney
/s/
Timothy S. Vasquez
Assistant United States Attorney
Marco's in prison on a reduced sentence, 4 years instead of 10 for Marco's "substantial assistance" he provided in the investigation and prosecution of others.
PRIDE 84
Read more:
cmkxunitedforum.proboards.com/thread/15326/glisson-sentenced-custody-federal-prison#ixzz37YAOJydG
