Federal Conspiracy Sentencing Guidelines: A Case Study

Can you avoid federal prison after a conspiracy conviction?

For years, David Moulder told his employees that doing the right thing mattered most when nobody was watching. Meanwhile, his companies processed payments and collected debts for marketers he knew were deceiving customers.

"My companies enabled these unethical sales by handling the payments and debt collection, contributing to a larger system of deceit. I turned a blind eye."

Six telephones

David launched Viking Magazine in 1994 with six telephones. By 2014 he had about 300 employees and his phones took a million calls a month. The companies grew to include PS Online, Total Customer Service, and Direct Clearing.

After he pleaded guilty, he had to explain why he kept taking those marketers' business after he knew what they were doing. That question became the center of his narrative.

He contacted us in February 2024 after watching our interviews with federal judges. He spent about two years preparing for sentencing.

The shotgun

David grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. His father drank. One night his father put a shotgun in his own mouth, and David pulled it away. Eventually David moved out.

He paid for five years of college himself, at Des Moines Area Community College, Iowa State, the University of Minnesota, and the University of St. Thomas. He graduated in 1992 with a degree in marketing and management. When his own children were born, he opened college savings accounts for each of them.

His narrative put that childhood next to his own business decisions.

"Some people are victims of the circumstances of their upbringing. I am not. All of the decisions that brought me to this day are mine and mine alone."

"Justin and his team made it clear: no one else could tell my story for me. If I wanted the judge to see who I really was, I had to take ownership, lead the process, and prove that I was more than my worst decisions."

A book for the judge

David wrote The Ethical Edge, laying the standards he preached to employees beside the transactions he let his companies process. He published it before the hearing and sent a copy to Judge John R. Tunheim.

He volunteered with Prison Professors Charitable Corporation, building educational material for people in federal prison. He worked with Second Harvest food bank and his church. He paid his restitution in full. Professors who knew his volunteer work wrote letters.

He rehearsed his allocution with our team until he could cover the payment processing, the customers who were deceived, and what he had done since.

"I'm going to do something unusual"

His advisory guideline range was 48 to 60 months. David was nervous as he spoke. When he finished, he recalls, Judge Tunheim told the courtroom, "I'm going to do something unusual."

One year of probation. Twenty-one days in county jail.

"I knew before he sentenced me that the work I put in had paid off. The judge said he was going to do something unusual, and in that moment, I felt it."

The man described as the conspiracy's kingpin received ten years in federal prison.

David wrote a book. What would you write, and who needs to read it? Bring both answers to a $500 diagnostic call with me.

Thank you,

Justin Paperny