Is there any case law in which a court has found that combining two criminal convictions for fraud with one criminal conviction for fraud was a reasonable chance of success?

Here, the district court stated that "[o]utside of the isolated peccadillos of the Michigan system[ ] that decided to consolidate sentencing, the [two felony convictions] were separate, done over separate periods of time, and combining them as the guidelines suggest, misrepresents their seriousness." The court also stated that the likelihood of recidivism in this case was "extraordinarily high." These are factors properly taken into account in the sentencing calculus. Given that Bauers' two state convictions were distinct crimes that were likely consolidated merely for the expediency of the state criminal justice system, and that Bauers' record reflects an individual bent on defrauding the public, we cannot say that the court's upward departure was an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Bishop, 921 F.2d 1068, 1071 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 925, 111 S.Ct. 2034, 114 L.Ed.2d 119 (1991).

Bauers further argues that his two state convictions were part of the same scheme to defraud investors, and as such, should have been considered "related crimes," pursuant to section 4A1.2. In so arguing, however, Bauers misconstrues the meaning of "single common scheme or plan" as provided in section 4A1.2. "[F]or crimes to be deemed related there must exist 'a close factual relationship between the underlying convictions.' " United States v. Rappaport, 999 F.2d 57, 60 (2d Cir.1993) (quoting United States v. Lopez, 961 F.2d 384, 387 (2d Cir.1992)). Accordingly, when the previous crimes involve separate victims and different locations, even when the actual crimes charged are similar, there is no "single common scheme or plan." See id. Here, although Bauers' consistently sought to defraud his victims, his crimes involved different victims and separate acts that cannot be considered part of a "single common scheme" for purposes of determining his criminal history category.