NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS NOV 25 2019

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 18-10367

Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 1:18-cr-00001-2 v. LIANG LI, MEMORANDUM*

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands

Ramona V. Manglona, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted November 18, 2019** Before: CANBY, TASHIMA, and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.

Liang Li appeals from the district court’s judgment and challenges the sentence of two years’ probation and a fine of $4,000 imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for making a false statement in a passport application, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 1542. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.

*

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.

**

The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2). § 1291, and we affirm.

Li contends that, when calculating his Guideline range, the district court improperly denied him a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a). The district court did not clearly err in finding that Li did not accept responsibility for his offense. See United States v. Rodriguez, 851 F.3d 931, 949 (9th Cir. 2017). The record reflects that Li consistently failed to demonstrate contrition and sought to minimize his conduct, which is inconsistent with accepting responsibility. See id.; United States v. Scrivener, 189 F.3d 944, 948 (9th Cir. 1999).

AFFIRMED.

2 18-10367