Case 2:21-cr-00464-DBB Document 16 Filed 12/07/21 PageID.

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ANDREA T MARTINEZ, Acting United States Attorney (#9313)

RUTH HACKFORD-PEER, Assistant United States Attorney (#15049)
Attorneys for the United States of America
111 South Main Street, Ste. 1800 • Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Telephone: (801) 524-5682

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF UTAH, CENTRAL DIVISION

CASE NO: 2:21-cr-00464-DBB

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, EXPEDITED MOTION TO MODIFY

Plaintiff, CALVIN CURTIS’ PRETRIAL
RELEASE & REQUEST FOR HEARING
vs.

CALVIN CURTIS,
Defendant.
District Court Judge David Barlow
Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead

Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3143 and §4132(d), the United States moves this Court to amend

Calvin Curtis’ conditions of release pending sentencing. On November 16, 2021, Mr. Calvin Curtis

pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and was released pending sentencing with a

number of release conditions. As such, the Judicial Officer found by clear and convincing evidence

that Mr. Curtis was not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the

community. The United States now seeks to clarify some conditions imposed and seek additional

conditions of release in order to assure the financial safety of the community and to ensure no

additional financial losses are incurred.

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1. The United States Seeks Clarification on Some Financial Conditions And Seeks

Additional Financial Conditions of Release

One of Mr. Curtis’ release conditions is to “not incur new credit charges or open additional

lines of credit without prior permission from the pretrial officer.” Despite this condition, Mr. Curtis

insists that he is allowed to use credit cards within existing credit limits but just cannot open new lines

of credit. Mr. Curtis has a number of credit cards, the full financial picture is not fully known to the

United States yet, and it would be irresponsible to let Mr. Curtis run up large credit card debts with no

source of income, and by his own doing, the credit card companies would be left holding the bill. The

United States is aware of numerous credit cards in Curtis’ name - one with a $30,000 limit, one with a

$27,500 limit, and one with a $35,000 limit. Mr. Curtis’ spending needs to be immediately curtailed.

The United States would like the Court to clarify that the condition requires Mr. Curtis not to

incur any new credit charges – not just impede his ability to open additional lines of credit. In addition,

Mr. Curtis should not be allowed to pay anyone else’s expenses, and he should be placed on a very

stringent budget between now and when he reports to the Bureau of Prisons.

Mr. Curtis recently informed probation that he planned to pay for his girlfriend’s rent in

Orlando, which is $5,995 and for her moving expenses, which is about $3,000. He also wishes to pay

for a security deposit and one month’s rent for a new place for her. He claims that he is also behind on

a number of bills including child support and health insurance and states, “it’s hard for me to estimate
what my expenses will be, but if the issue truly is a credit limitation and not total spending, I think I

can agree to a credit limitation of $7,500 for December and January, with the understanding that it will

reduce in February.” (Email from Curtis to Pretrial Services dated 12/2/2021). This is far too high for

Mr. Curtis’ spending and certainly too high as a monthly limit on accessing credit. Moreover, any non-

credit card spending is essentially money taken from victims as any money Mr. Curtis has now should

be preserved as restitution for victims.

Mr. Curtis has had no spending discipline for a number of years while he blew through more

than $9,500,000 of his victims’ money. If he has access to credit, he will rack up large credit charges

that will likely be borne by the credit card companies. The United States would like to impede Mr.

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Curtis’ ability to continue to run up credit charges between now and when he reports to prison. The

United States would like the condition to require that Mr. Curtis not be allowed to pay for anyone

else’s expenses except his own, and only a modest budget should be allowed for Mr. Curtis’ own

expenses. Ideally, Mr. Curtis would not be allowed to incur any additional charges on any (even

previously held) credit cards. If the Court is inclined to allow Mr. Curtis to have access to any credit at

all, the United States would like Mr. Curtis to only be allowed one active credit card, with a small

credit limit that would be monitored by pretrial services and be required to close or freeze all other

existing accounts.

It is an affront to justice to allow Mr. Curtis to pay another person’s $8,995 rent and moving

expenses while victims are literally out millions of dollars. Moreover, reckless spending by Mr. Curtis

at this point may interfere with the United States forfeiture efforts and doing so could potentially

violate 18 U.S.C. § 1505 (obstruction of proceedings).

2. The United States Seeks A Condition of Release Requiring Mr. Curtis to Get A Full-

time Non-Legal, Non-Fiduciary Job And Clarification That Mr. Curtis Cannot

Practice Law At All.

Mr. Curtis’ Statement in Advance of Plea contained a clause banning Mr. Curtis from

completing legal work for pay. The clause reads: “Employment Ban. I understand and agree that until

I am terminated from supervised release or probation, I will not be employed by or seek any
employment that requires me to act as a fiduciary or requires me to have an active bar license.” In

addition, a pretrial release condition states that Mr. Curtis should “not be employed in any fiduciary

capacity or any position allowing access to credit or personal information of others.”

After Mr. Curtis pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering, the United States became

aware that Mr. Curtis was continuing to do ongoing legal work despite his change of plea agreement

restricting his ability to do legal work until he has completed supervised release at the end of his

custodial sentence. While FBI agents were at Mr. Curtis’ office on November 22, 2021, Curtis opened

an envelope containing a check for $2,000. Mr. Curtis said this money was for estate planning services

he provided. It is unknown when these services were tendered.

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While Mr. Curtis is currently on “release pending sentencing” and not supervised release

following a custodial sentence, the United States would like the Court to clarify that, given the nature

of the crimes Mr. Curtis has committed, this restriction on conducting legal work should begin now.

In addition, the United States would like the Court to add a condition of release that Mr. Curtis

immediately get a job. To be clear, this job will need to be a job that does not require an active bar

license nor allow him to be a fiduciary and while he will likely make far less than he is used to, it

would provide him with some money so he does not continue to rack up large expenses. The United

States would like to see Mr. Curtis be put on a budget allowing him to spend only that which he brings

in through this employment.

3. The United States Seeks a Condition that Mr. Curtis Not Access/Possess Firearms

Mr. Curtis pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and he therefore is now a

convicted felon. Despite this, a restriction on his ability to possess a firearm was not indicated as a

condition on Mr. Curtis’ pretrial release. The United States seeks a clarification that, because of his

status as a convicted felon, Mr. Curtis should not be allowed to access/possess firearms or

ammunition.

4. Mr. Curtis Needs to Timely Comply With Follow-Up Related to His Withdrawal as

Trustee

As required by the Court, Mr. Curtis wrote letters of resignation as trustee over all trusts in
which he was serving as trustee. However, victims have had difficulty using those letters to access

their accounts. For example, in one case, Mr. Curtis’ withdrawal letter reads that he resigns as trustee

of the above-referenced trust. However, the trust identified was not the correct name of the affected

trust so the bank would not accept the letter. In addition Wells Fargo’s legal department is requiring an

original, wet signature on the resignation of trustee letter, which was not provided by Mr. Curtis.

These problems were communicated to defense counsel on December 2, 2021, but as of December 6,

2021, these issues were not yet rectified. There is also an issue that Mr. Curtis has property in his

name as trustee for others. Mr. Curtis needs to comply with transferring the deeds and/or titles out of

his name promptly and communicate that he has done this once completed.

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The United States seeks a condition requiring Mr. Curtis to timely address issues arising from

his attempts to withdraw as trustee, perhaps a deadline of 2 business days to address the issue could be

imposed. These issues may include drafting additional withdrawal letters, making a wet-signature

withdrawal document available, transferring titles and deeds out of his name, and anything else that

might arise.

5. Mr. Curtis Should Take No Actions To Impede Forfeiture Efforts by the United

States

The United States’ financial litigation unit is continuing to take forfeiture actions to recover

proceeds of Mr. Curtis’ fraud. These efforts include seeking recovery from third parties including Mr.

Curtis’ ex-wives and girlfriend. The unit is still working through financial documents from third

parties and is still in the process of determining a full picture of the assets Mr. Curtis has and which

ones might be subject to forfeiture. Because of unforeseen circumstances related to the COVID-19

pandemic, these efforts, while ongoing, have been delayed.

In the meantime, Mr. Curtis cannot take any actions to try to protect any third parties’ interest

in money or property. These efforts would include assisting with a refinance and/or recording a quit

claim deed on any property. Mr. Curtis should not transfer any money from any of his bank account to

any third parties. If Mr. Curtis takes any of these actions, which potentially could violate 18 USC §

1505 (obstruction of pending proceedings), the United will seek to have Mr. Curtis immediately
detained.

The United States believes that these additional conditions are required in order to ensure the

safety of the community and limit the financial damage Mr. Curtis has already done. To be clear, it is

the United States’ intention to allow Mr. Curtis the opportunity to comply with these conditions but if

Mr. Curtis continues to incur credit charges, continues to complete legal work, or continues to be

lackadaisical in his responses to legal issues arising from his withdrawal as trustee, the United States

will seek Mr. Curtis’ detention under 18 U.S.C. §3143, as he is a convicted felon on release pending

sentencing.

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DATED this 7th day of December, 2021.

ANDREA T. MARTINEZ
UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

/s/ Ruth Hackford-Peer

RUTH HACKFORD-PEER
Assistant United States Attorney