In the Courts

The Seventh Circuit approved the government's condition of its motion for the reduction of Ronald J. Richardson's sentence on his agreement to waive his right to appeal. United States v. Richardson, 558 F.3d 680, 683 (7th Cir. 2009). Richardson had been convicted of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion after a jury trial. United States v. Ghilarducci, 480 F.3d 542, 543 (7th Cir. 2007). At trial, Richardson was accused of assisting August C. Ghilarducci, president of Westchester Financial Associates, Inc. (WFA), with a scheme in which WFA clients were charged for obtaining letters showing that financial institutions were able to provide short-term leases of large sums of money to the clients. These Confirmation of Funds letters proved worthless and left WFA clients with huge losses. The court sentenced Richardson to 40 months in prison.

After his sentencing, Richardson assisted the government with an unrelated prosecution. As a result, the government agreed to move for a 15% reduction in Richardson's sentence, if he agreed to forego his pending appeal. Richardson refused and filed his own motion ' also under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b) ' claiming that the government should have filed a motion on his behalf. The district court dismissed Richardson's motion and he appealed.