UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellant, │ │ Nos. 24-3286 v. > │ │ JASON BRICKER, │ Defendant-Appellee. │ ┘

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ │ Nos. 24-3289/5182 v. > │ │ ELLIS MCHENRY (24-3289); LOIS JOCHINTO ORTA (24- │ 5182), │ Defendants-Appellants. │ ┘

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland; No. 1:05-cr-00113 (Bricker)—Dan A. Polster, District Judge; No. 1:93-cr-00084 (McHenry)—Donald C. Nugent, District Judge, and United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Covington; No. 2:97-cr-00071 (Orta)—Danny C. Reeves, District Judge.

Argued: October 31, 2024

Decided and Filed: April 22, 2025

Before: BATCHELDER, STRANCH, and READLER, Circuit Judges. Nos. 24-3286/3289/5182 United States v. Bricker, et al. Page 2

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COUNSEL ARGUED: Andrew C. Noll, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for the United States. David A. O’Neil, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, Washington, D.C., for Jason Bricker. Christian J. Grostic, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Cleveland, Ohio, for Ellis McHenry. Alex P. Treiger, KELLOGG, HANSEN, TODD, FIGEL & FREDERICK, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Lois Orta. ON BRIEF: Andrew C. Noll, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for the United States. David A. O’Neil, Suzanne Zakaria, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, Washington, D.C., Sandy Tomasik, James Stramm, Raphael M. Vim, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, New York, New York, for Jason Bricker. Christian J. Grostic, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Cleveland, Ohio, for Ellis McHenry. Alex P. Treiger, Justin B. Berg, KELLOGG, HANSEN, TODD, FIGEL & FREDERICK, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., for Lois Orta. James Ewing, Vanessa V. Healy, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Cleveland, Ohio, Charles P. Wisdom, Jr., UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Lexington, Kentucky, Elaine K. Leonhard, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, for the United States.

BATCHELDER, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which READLER, J., concurred. STRANCH, J. (pp. 30–46), delivered a separate dissenting opinion. _________________

OPINION _________________

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. In this consolidated appeal, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court in Br