United States v. Catherine Chollet

── United States v. Catherine Chollet ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: June 09, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 24-4634 Doc: 112 Filed: 06/09/2026 Pg: 1 of 24 PUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-4634 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. CATHERINE ELIZABETH CHOLLET, a/k/a Liza Chollet, Defendant - Appellant. No. 24-4635 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MICHAEL ELLIOT KOHN, Defendant - Appellant. No. 24-4636 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. DAVID SHANE SIMMONS, a/k/a Shane Simmons, Defendant - Appellant. USCA4 Appeal: 24-4634 Doc: 112 Filed: 06/09/2026 Pg: 2 of 24 Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Statesville. Kenneth D. Bell, District Judge. (5:22-cr-00060-KDB-SCR-2; 5:22-cr- 00060-KDB-SCR-1; 5:22-cr-00060-KDB-SCR-3) Argued: May 6, 2026 Decided: June 9, 2026 Amended: June 9, 2026 Before NIEMEYER, THACKER, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge Thacker and Judge Rushing joined. ARGUED: Justin Gelfand, MARGULIS GELFAND LLC, St. Louis, Missouri; Karl Walter Dickhaus, DICKHAUS LAW PARTNERSHIP, L.P., St. Louis, Missouri, for Appellants. Todd Alan Ellinwood, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Richard Lamb Brown, Jr., LAW OFFICES OF RICHARD BROWN, Monroe, North Carolina, for Appellant David Simmons. A. Tysen Duva, Assistant Attorney General, Jennifer Hodge, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, S. Robert Lyons, Katie Bagley, Joseph B. Syverson, Tax Section, Criminal Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.; Russ Ferguson, United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee. 2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-4634 Doc: 112 Filed: 06/09/2026 Pg: 3 of 24 NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge: Michael Kohn, Catherine Chollet, and David Simmons were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns. On appeal of their judgments, they raise numerous issues challenging their convictions, including claims that the government violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution in prosecuting the crimes; that venue in the Western District of North Carolina was improper; that the tax returns were technically true, as the calculations followed the tax forms; and that the district court made erroneous evidentiary rulings, among other challenges. For the reasons given herein, we reject the defendants’ challenges and affirm. I Michael Kohn and his daughter Catherine Chollet were tax attorneys and partners in The Kohn Partnership, LLP, a law firm in St. Louis, Missouri. David Simmons was an insurance broker residing in Jefferson, North Carolina, who worked closely with Kohn, Chollet, and The Kohn Partnership in assisting in the preparation of income tax returns on behalf of clients in various states, including North Carolina. Years ago, th