Section 2B1.1(b)(10) of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual increases the recommended sentencing ranges for defendants who make fraudulent schemes harder to uncover. In particular, subsection (A) of this Guideline—the relocation enhancement—increases a defendant’s recommended sentence if she “relocated, or participated in relocating, a fraudulent scheme to another jurisdiction to evade law enforcement or regulatory officials.” This provision raises the question: Where is a fraudulent scheme located? The question might have a straightforward answer in cases that involve few defendants and few fraudulent acts. But federal circuit courts have split over how to apply this enhancement to schemes that span multiple jurisdictions at once, exacerbating a preexisting disagreement about the level of intent required by the relocation enhancement.

This Comment argues that courts can resolve these problems by limiting the applicability of the relocation enhancement. Specifically, courts should apply the relocation enhancement only to cases where the defendant committed an act of deception in one jurisdiction, grew suspicious of a specific law enforcement investigation into her actions, fled the jurisdiction because of that investigation, and then committed the same deceptive act in a new jurisdiction. This reading draws support from interpretive canons, Sentencing Commission guidance, and existing literature on the deterrent effect of sentencing enhancements. This reading also encourages courts to make greater use of another provision in § 2B1.1(b)(10)—the sophisticated-means enhancement—to address the problems posed by multijurisdictional fraud schemes.

《美国量刑指南手册》第 2B1.1(b)(10) 节为那些使欺诈计划更难被发现的被告增加了建议量刑范围。特别是，如果被告“将欺诈性计划转移或参与转移到另一个司法管辖区以逃避执法或监管官员”，则本指南的 (A) 小节 - 搬迁增强 - 增加了被告的建议刑期。该条款提出了一个问题：欺诈计划在哪里？在涉及少数被告和欺诈行为的案件中，这个问题可能有一个直截了当的答案。但联邦巡回法院在如何将这种增强功能同时应用于跨越多个司法管辖区的计划上存在分歧，加剧了先前存在的关于搬迁增强所需的意图水平的分歧。

该评论认为，法院可以通过限制搬迁增强的适用性来解决这些问题。具体而言，法院应仅对被告在一个司法管辖区实施欺骗行为、对其行为进行特定执法调查产生怀疑、因该调查而逃离司法管辖区，然后实施相同欺骗行为的案件应用搬迁增强措施。在新的司法管辖区。本阅读内容得到了解释规范、量刑委员会指南和现有关于量刑增强威慑效果的文献的支持。这一解读还鼓励法院更多地利用 § 2B1.1(b)(10) 中的另一条规定——复杂手段增强——来解决跨司法管辖区欺诈计划带来的问题。