United States v. Bloom’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Sentinel used the yields from the house account and the Prime Portfolio [i.e., SEG 3] to inflate artificially the returns from the 125 Portfolio [i.e., SEG 1]. Sentinel's high-risk trading in the house account generated higher returns than the more conservative 125 Portfolio. The Prime Portfolio, which was slightly riskier than the 125 Portfolio, likewise generated higher returns. Sentinel redistributed some of these returns from the house account and the Prime Portfolio to the 125 Portfolio, effectively using the riskier accounts to subsidize the more conservative account. With these inflated rates of return in the 125 Portfolio, Sentinel could attract new clients by outperforming its competition. Indeed, it advertised these rates in its marketing material and on its website. Sentinel employees testified that they doctored the yield rates on a daily basis from 2004 until the company's bankruptcy in 2007. Instead of paying customers the interest they actually earned, Sentinel employees divvied up interest payments according to the instruction of Bloom or Charles Mosley. Bloom in fact created a spreadsheet to help employees calculate how to redistribute funds, which was called the "Daily Yield/Rate Calculation." The spreadsheet listed both the actual interest earned by customers' securities and the rate set by Sentinel. The rate setting often favored the customers in "Seg 1" (125 Portfolio). For example, on December 7, 2006, the interest actually earned by Seg 1 was $96,942.63”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 303 F. Supp. 3d 638 - Grede v. UBS Sec., LLC

2. “In a case ... presenting a rather technical and arcane question in applying the Sentencing Guidelines, it is perhaps worth another reminder that the Guidelines are, after all, guidelines. They must be considered seriously and applied carefully. In the end, however, the defendant’s sentence is the responsibility of the district judge, after careful consideration of all the relevant factors under 18 U.S.C. § 3553 (a).... A district court facing a tricky but technical issue under the Guidelines may exercise its discretion under section 3553(a) and may spell out on the record whether and to what extent the resolution of the guideline issue affected the court’s final decision on the sentence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Snyder

3. “Sentinel was involved in both ends of these transactions: sometimes it used its customers' cash to purchase securities, earning interest when it resold the security (lending); other times Sentinel sold securities to obtain cash quickly, repurchasing the security and paying interest afterwards (borrowing).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 303 F. Supp. 3d 638 - Grede v. UBS Sec., LLC