By: Sara Kropf The only thing I like better than seeing a defense lawyer win is seeing a friend who is a defense lawyer win. A friend of mine, Jay Nanavati, led a case to victory in the Northern District of West Virginia, persuading the judge to dismiss all 53 counts...
By: Sara Kropf I recently participated on a panel at the excellent NACDL White Collar Defense College with Ellen Brotman, Preston Pugh, Brian Bieber and Cynthia Orr. The College aims to teach lawyers how to handle white-collar cases from start to finish. We were...
By: Sara Kropf A few weeks ago, I wrote about the lawsuit filed by Level Global founder David Ganek. Mr. Ganek sued Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as well as other prosecutors and agents, claiming that they had harmed...
By: Sara Kropf I’ve written before about the fundamental unfairness of the Department of Justice’s practice of issuing press releases touting indictments but not issuing press releases when the charges are dismissed or the defendant acquitted. It looks like the SEC...
By: Sara Kropf On first glance, investigations by a federal agency's Office of Inspector General, or OIG, may seem like no big deal. An inspector general has no criminal authority. He can’t charge you with a crime or throw you in jail. He can’t even arrest you. Maybe...
By: Sara Kropf When I’m representing a white-collar criminal defendant pre-indictment, one of my key tasks is to try to contact potential witnesses. But when? The timing is a tightrope. Contact a witness before you know anything about the case and your risk not asking...
By: Sara Kropf Nearly two years ago, I wrote about the government’s civil complaint filed against the former Chief Compliance Officer of MoneyGram. The defendant in that case is still fighting and the case appears headed for trial. As a quick reminder of the case: The...
By: Sara Kropf In Part I of the series, I introduced the idea that defense counsel are increasingly fighting back against DOJ in creative ways. In Part II, we talked about Sheldon Silver and his defense counsel's efforts to use DOJ's very public statements against Mr....
By: Sara Kropf In Part I of this series, I pointed out that DOJ uses the media as a tool to punish defendants. It publicizes indictments, without equally publicizing acquittals and dismissals. This post is the second in a series exploring how defense lawyers are...
By: Sara Kropf Last year, I did a round-up of the 10 most popular blog posts from 2015. Since I’m just back from vacation and have about 48 items on my to-do list, I thought I’d repeat the concept this year too. I just checked the stats for the week, figuring them to...