United States v. Tadios, No. 14-30231 (5-18-16)(McKeown with Tallman and Gleason, D.J.).

"Time is money."  That was the conclusion of this opinion, which concerned loss calculation.  The defendant was convicted of various fraud counts of using federal funds for personal benefit.  As a CEO of a federally funded health clinic on an Indian Reservation, she said she was visiting clinics for "official government business" when she was really visiting her husband, a tribal chairman, who was serving a federal sentence at a federal penitentiary in South Dakota.  These trips lasted several days but she would only visit a tribal clinic for a couple of hours.  This conversion of federal funds led to the conviction: the question for the 9th was whether the salary loss to the tribe, because she should have taken annual leave, should be counted as loss.  The district court included such loss, and the 9th affirmed.  Under 2B1.1 of the Guidelines, the loss to the tribe can be calculable, even if she was management, and a salaried employee.  The tribe suffered from her absence when she said she was working.  Public accountability demanded an accounting.  The loss amount was not erroneous.

The decision is here:

https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2016/05/18/14-30231.pdf