[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2317 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2317

  For the relief of Patricia and Michael Duane, Gregory Hansen, Mary 
      Pimental, Randy Ruiz, Elaine Schlinger, and Gerald Whitaker.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 3, 2003

  Mr. Thompson of California introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  For the relief of Patricia and Michael Duane, Gregory Hansen, Mary 
      Pimental, Randy Ruiz, Elaine Schlinger, and Gerald Whitaker.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1996, Donald Bickerstaff, after posing as a 
        financial planner, absconded with a total of $11,808,931.87 
        that he had fraudulently obtained from certain investors, 
        including--
                    (A) Patricia and Michael Duane of Kenwood, 
                California;
                    (B) Gregory Hansen of Mill Valley, California;
                    (C) Mary Pimental of Napa, California;
                    (D) Randy Ruiz of San Rafael, California;
                    (E) Elaine Schlinger of San Anselmo, California; 
                and
                    (F) Gerald Whitaker of Napa, California.
            (2) Donald Bickerstaff was subsequently arrested and tried, 
        convicted in 1998 of defrauding more than 50 people, and 
        ordered to pay restitution to his victims by the United States 
        District Court for the Northern District of California (United 
        States v. Bickerstaff, No. CR97-0332-FMS).
            (3) The United States Attorney for the Northern District of 
        California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted 
        two assets seizures from Donald Bickerstaff to effect 
        restitution on behalf of those he defrauded.
            (4) The first assets seizure, which occurred in July 1999, 
        consisted of automobiles and personal property and produced 
        $121,000 in proceeds, which was distributed proportionately to 
        all the victims based on their losses.
            (5) The second assets seizure, which occurred in October 
        1999, consisted of 70 racehorses and produced $300,000 in 
        proceeds, which was distributed proportionately to the victims 
        based on their losses, except that the seven individuals 
        identified in paragraph (1) were excluded from this 
        restitution.
            (6) These seven individuals submitted the proper paperwork, 
        but through no fault of their own, it never reached the 
        appropriate office within the Department of Justice.
            (7) The Department of Justice has been unable to withdraw 
        funds from the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund in 
        order to make restitution to these individuals who were 
        improperly denied restitution paid from the proceeds of the 
        second assets forfeiture sale.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to fairly compensate the 
seven individuals denied restitution out of the funds from the second 
assets forfeiture sale by ensuring they receive the payment they would 
have received if their paperwork had been properly processed by the 
Department of Justice.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT FROM DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ASSETS FORFEITURE FUND.

     The Attorney General shall pay, out of the Department of Justice 
Assets Forfeiture Fund established under section 524(c) of title 28, 
United States Code, to each of the individuals identified in section 
1(a)(1) the sum each such individual would have received if the 
Department of Justice had properly processed such individual's claim 
for restitution out of the funds of the second assets forfeiture sale 
(referred to in section 1(a)(5)) for the losses resulting from Donald 
Bickerstaff's illegal acts.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON AGENT OR ATTORNEY FEES.

     No agent or attorney shall receive more than 10 percent of any 
amount described in section 2 for any service rendered in connection 
with the payment made by this Act, notwithstanding any contract which 
provides otherwise. Any person who violates this section shall be 
guilty of an infraction and shall be subject to a fine in the amount 
provided in title 18, United States Code.
                                 <all>