Upward variance in wire fraud case affirmed

U.S. v. Kujat, 2014 WL 5906174 (11/14/14) (Col.) (unpub'd) - The 10th affirms an upward variance of 19 months from the top of the guideline range to 60 months for wire fraud. The district court relied in large part on the number of victims, which the guidelines consider. But the district court wasn't happy with the guidelines and noted the nature of the victims---ordinary working people---which the guidelines don't consider. And it was okay for the court to consider that Mr. Kujat had 9 felony convictions, even though "he had experienced some time without the evidence commission of criminal offenses."