By Sara Kropf Since I handle only white-collar criminal matters, I don’t deal with forensic science as often as other criminal defense lawyers do. I’ve never had a case turn on DNA samples or bitemark evidence or analysis of clothing fibers. This post is a bit of a...
By Dan Portnov As advice-givers, lawyers are prolific. Everyone seems to have their war stories, their career development tales, and their many lessons learned along the way. I am no different. And having made a few stops in my journey, one lesson I have been...
By Sara Kropf The Department of Justice’s “supplemental and amended” sentencing memorandum in the Roger Stone criminal case is nothing short of extraordinary. You can find a copy of the updated Stone memo here. Lots of commentators have hit the high points about this...
By Sara Kropf In most white-collar cases, intent is the key issue. The government generally has to prove that the defendant intentionally acted to break the law and it wasn’t simply a mistake or an oversight. Circumstantial evidence is enough to prove intent, and, at...
By Sara Kropf Taint teams are dubious at best. A taint team is a group of government agents or prosecutors selected to review material seized through a search warrant to determine whether any of the material is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If it is,...
By Dan Portnov 2019 ended with Congress trying to tackle insider trading but 2020 begins with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals once again commanding center stage in defining the elements of the offense. In United States v. Blaszczak (issued on December 30, but no...
By Sara Kropf We had a big year at Law Office of Sara Kropf. The biggest news is that we don’t exist anymore. Not to worry, though. Andrea Moseley joined the firm, and we are now Kropf Moseley PLLC. With three lawyers, we are practically a legal empire. We’re still...
By Dan Portnov Not busy enough with impeachment in the run up to the holidays, the U.S. House of Representatives on December 5 passed a bipartisan bill to prohibit insider trading. The Insider Trading Prohibition Act passed by a vote of 410 to 13 and now awaits a...
By Sara Kropf Back in September 2018, I wrote about how Michael Cohen was pleading guilty without the benefit of a cooperation agreement. I said that it was possible that the government would later file a Rule 35 motion, seeking a reduction in his sentence based on...
By Dan Portnov On Friday, November 8, 2019, Lawrence Hoskins was convicted of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[1] The jury verdict, delivered on a Friday afternoon in Connecticut, barely made the national news (the bar has been set higher these days), but...