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United States v. Ageloff, No. 11-2474-cr (2d Cir. October 10, 2012) (Pooler, Wesley, Lohier, CJJ) (per curiam)

This short per curiam opinion affirms the district court’s authority, under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. 1651, to retrain a convicted defendant’s property – here, some $536,000 of Ageloff’s money – in anticipation of ordering restitution. Preventing a defendant from “frustrating collection of the restitution debt” is a legitimate goal that may be furthered under the Act.  Here, the defendant had agreed that his fraud caused a loss of $80 million or more and, later, was convicted of laundering millions of dollars in proceeds from the same scheme. Nor was it an answer that Ageloff wanted the money to pay for counsel; the restraining order did not arbitrarily interfere with his opportunity to retain counsel, and he was “ably represented by CJA counsel.”