[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 21-12709 ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus LISETTE LOPEZ, a.k.a. Lissette Lopez Prat,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:21-cv-20550-CMA ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-12709 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 08/07/2023 Page: 2 of 18

2 Opinion of the Court 21-12709

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JILL PRYOR and GRANT, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: This appeal requires us to decide how to apply the categori- cal approach to a conspiracy crime—a question of first impression in our Circuit. The United States seeks to revoke Lisette Lopez’s naturalization on the ground that she committed a crime of moral turpitude within five years of applying for citizenship and willfully concealed or misrepresented during the application process the fact that she had committed a crime. The district court granted judg- ment on the pleadings in favor of the government on the ground that Lopez had committed a crime of moral turpitude during the statutory period. Because the crime to which Lopez pleaded guilty—conspiring to launder money—did not categorically in- volve moral turpitude, we reverse and remand for further proceed- ings consistent with this decision. I. BACKGROUND Lisette Lopez is a naturalized citizen of the United States. She was born in Cuba and was a national of Venezuela when she sought American citizenship. In 2003, she filed an Application for Naturalization (Form N-400), on which she certified under penalty of perjury that she had never “committed a crime or offense for which [she was] NOT arrested.” She signed the form again after completing her naturalization interview. On the day she took her naturalization oath in 2007, she signed Form N-445, attesting that she had not committed a crime or offense for which she was not USCA11 Case: 21-12709 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 08/07/2023 Page: 3 of 18

21-12709 Opinion of the Court 3

arrested since her initial interview. Lopez became an American cit- izen on August 10, 2007. Lopez was charged in 2012 with healthcare fraud and con- spiracy crimes. In 2012, Lopez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to com- mit money laundering. See 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). In the accompany- ing factual proffer, she admitted that in 2004, she incorporated a pharmacy called Medline, which she operated from August 2004 to July 2008. Lopez admitted that she and her husband, Lazaro Prat, submitted millions of dollars in Medicare claims on behalf of Medline from February 2005 to July 2008. The proffer stated that “[d]uring this time period, [Lopez] was aware that Prat was submit- ting and causing the submission [of ] several million dollars in false and fraudulent Medicare claims on behalf of Medline.” She and Prat agreed to launder the money and conducted transactions with the pro