presented by the Government was sufficient for the jury to conclude both that Delgado foresaw a grand jury proceeding and that he acted corruptly by attempting to cover his tracks with the text message.
III
Having affirmed Delgado’s convictions, we now address his challenge to his sentence. Delgado argues that the district court incorrectly calculated “the benefit received” in return for the bribe payments under U.S.S.G. §§ 2C1.1(b)(2) and 2B1.1(b)(1) and therefore incorrectly applied a six-level increase to his Guidelines offense level. He challenges only the district court’s calculation that the PR bonds awarded by Delgado should be valued at $5,000 (and $10,000, in the case of one of Perez’s pre-investigation clients).[1]
This court “typically review[s] the district court’s interpretation of the Guidelines de novo and its factual findings for clear error.” United States v. Rodriguez-Leos, 953 F.3d 320, 324 (5th Cir. 2020).
“The amount of benefit to be received” in exchange for a bribe is a finding of fact. United States v. Griffin, 324 F.3d 330, 365 (5th Cir. 2003). Therefore, the district court’s calculation of that amount “will be upheld so long as it is ‘plausible in light of the record as a whole.’” United States v. Eustice, 952 F.3d 686, 691 (5th Cir. 2020) (quoting United States v. Betancourt, 422 F.3d 240, 246 (5th Cir. 2005)); see also United States v. Nguyen, 854 F.3d 276, 281 (5th Cir. 2017) (explaining that sentencing facts need only be established by a preponderance of the evidence). Moreover,
- ↑ As described above, the district court found wanting the evidence tying the 2008 pickup truck to the conspiracy conviction under Count One. However, as confirmed by Delgado’s counsel at oral argument, Delgado does not challenge the inclusion of the $15,000 associated with the truck in the “benefit received” calculation.
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