United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED December 9, 2024 No. 24-20088 ____________ Lyle W. Cayce Clerk United States of America,

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus Enrique Morales,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:12-CR-305-1 ______________________________ Before Elrod, Chief Judge, and Higginbotham and Southwick, Circuit Judges. Jennifer Walker Elrod, Chief Judge: Enrique Morales was sentenced to 188 months in prison for conspiracy to operate an illegal money-transmitting business and conspiracy to launder funds. He filed a motion to reduce his sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) based on the new zero-point-offender provision of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. The district court denied the motion, reasoning that Morales could not meet all of the provision’s criteria. We agree. Because Morales received an aggravating-role adjustment, he is ineligible for the reduction even though he did not engage in a continuing Case: 24-20088 Document: 48-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/09/2024

criminal enterprise. Accordingly, the district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED. I In 2013, Morales pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal money-transmitting business and one count of conspiracy to launder funds. The presentence report calculated a total offense level of 41. That offense level included a four-level enhancement under USSG § 3B1.1(a) because Morales was “deemed an organizer/leader of criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive.” Morales had no criminal history points, so his criminal history category was I. His resulting guideline range was 324 to 405 months of imprisonment. Due to the combined statutory maximum, the guideline range then became 300 months. The government recommended a downward departure under USSG § 5K1.1 due to Morales’s substantial assistance in the prosecution of the case. At the sentencing hearing, the district court adopted the presentence report and granted the government’s motion for a downward departure. The district court sentenced Morales to 60 months as to count 1 and 128 months as to count 2. The sentences were run consecutively, for a total of 188 months of imprisonment. The district court also imposed a term of supervised release of three years as to each count, to run concurrently with each other, and ordered forfeiture in the amount of the laundered funds. After Morales’s sentencing, Amendment 821 to the Sentencing Guidelines added a new guideline, USSG § 4C1.1. USSG Supp. to App. C, Amendment 821, Part B, Subpart 1, at 236–37 (Nov. 2023). That guideline provides a decrease in offense level for certain “zero-point offenders”: Case: 24-20088 Document: 48-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 12/09/2024

(a) Adjustment.—If the defendant meets all of the following criteria: (1) the defendant did not receive any criminal history points from Chapter Four, Part A; (2) the defendant did not receive an adjustment under § 3A1.4 (Terrorism); (3