Federal Circuits, 9th Cir. (March 20, 1992)
Docket number: 91-55233
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Janet Sherman, Victor Sherman, Santa Monica, Cal., for defendant-appellant.
Stephen G. Wolfe and Mark Larsen, Asst. U.S. Attys., Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.Before PREGERSON, CANBY and RYMER, Circuit Judges.CANBY, Circuit Judge:James Ralph Hoyland appeals the denial of the motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255. We affirm.BACKGROUNDOn October 14, 1986, Hoyland opened an account with the Bank of Newport in Newport Beach, California. Hoyland, a high school teacher, deposited $61,433 in this account over the next four months. He stipulated that each of his numerous transactions involved less than $10,000. Hoyland further stipulated that he wanted to prevent the bank from filing the currency transaction reports required for all deposits exceeding $10,000. Throughout the transactions, Hoyland never received notice that his actions were illegal. The district court convicted Hoyland on six counts of structuring currency transactions with the intent to evade the reporting requirements in violation of 31 U.S.C. 5324(3). We affirmed this conviction in United States v. Hoyland, 914 F.2d 1125 (9th Cir.1990).Hoyland then moved to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. 2255, asserting that various government documents allegedly relevant to his conviction had not been promulgated in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553. He also based his claim on the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner's failure to authorize the investigation pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding.1 The district court denied that motion, and Hoyland appeals.DISCUSSIONI. Form 4789Hoyland contends that the Treasury Secretary's failure to promulgate the Currency Transaction Reporting Form (Form 4789) as a regulation should render his conviction invalid. He relies primarily on United States v. Reinis, 794 F.2d 506, 508 (9th Cir.1986), where failure to publish Form 4789 was the basis for reversing an individual's conviction for aiding and abetting a violation of 31 U.S.C. 5313(a). Because Hoyland's case is distinguishable from Reinis, his argument fails.When we decided Reinis in 1986, 31 U.S.C. 5313(a) and 31 C.F.R. § 103.22(a) required reports for currency transactions exceeding $10,000. These provisions did not refer to any requirement for reporting aggregate amounts deposited on the same day. The instructions on Form 4789 did refer to this requirement, but we concluded that they lacked the force of law because they had never been published. Reinis, 794 F.2d at 508.After Reinis, Congress passed 31 U.S.C. 5324.2 This statute, which took effect in January 1987, prohibits persons from structuring transactions to evade the reporting requirements. Hoyland was convicted of violating this newer statute. As currently written, the law does not rely on Form 4789 to impose any legal obligation on Hoyland. See 31 U.S.C. 5324. Accordingly, the failure to publish the form does not render his conviction invalid. Cf. Reinis, 794 F.2d at 508.II. Delegation OrdersHoyland further contends that his conviction is invalid because of the government's failure to publish internal delegation orders and a Memorandum of Understanding requiring the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service to approve all criminal investigations authorized byTry vLex for FREE for 3 days
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