By: Sara Kropf What happens if a defendant’s cash is subject to forfeiture but he also owes someone else money? Who gets the forfeited cash? In a recent case out of the First Circuit, the court applied the forfeiture statutes to deny a general creditor payment of the...
By: Sara Kropf I was perusing recent opinions from the courts of appeal for possible blog post ideas when I came across an odd-looking errata sheet. Here’s an excerpt: That’s odd, I thought. I took a look at the original opinion in the case. The First Circuit wrote an...
By: Sara Kropf Elected officials under government investigation try to avoid indictment like any other white-collar client. They know that if charged with a crime, it will be nearly impossible to win re-election. Once indicted, though, they fight back, and fight back...
By: Sara Kropf I’ve written about vented several times (see here and here) about DOJ’s practice of leaving press releases announcing indictments on its website even after the defendant has been acquitted of the charges or after the charges have been dismissed. DOJ's...
By: Sara Kropf A few months ago, I wrote Part One of this series about Speedy Trial Act strategy in a white-collar criminal case. This post is going to go into a bit more detail about the pros and cons of invoking the speedy trial right. As a very brief (and...
By: Sara Kropf A few months ago, I wrote a blog post predicting that the Fourth Circuit would stop allowing federal prosecutors to seize untainted assets before conviction. (Buffing fingernails on shirt.) And now it has. Okay, my prognostication was not exactly out of...
By: Sara Kropf A defendant has a constitutional right to prepare a defense to criminal charges. In a white-collar case, contacting potential witnesses is as important as reviewing the document trail. Why does the government feel threatened when we do our jobs? I have...
By: Sara Kropf In a civil case, a defendant cannot recover attorney’s fees from a plaintiff, even if the defendant wins. There are a few exceptions to the “American rule,” such as a when there’s a statute governing the case or the contract between the parties allows...
By: Sara Kropf Being under criminal investigation is a stunningly powerless situation. You can’t control when the government starts an investigation, how long it lasts or when it will end. The Speedy Trial Act presents one of the few times when a criminal defendant...
By: Sara Kropf On July 13, 2017, the Department of Justice issued a press release touting "the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force." Most likely, none of these case will be particularly complex. DOJ loves to coordinate...