By: Sara Kropf The recent flap over FBI Director’s Jim Comey’s possible efforts to influence the election against Hillary Clinton was fascinating. I watched his press conference and read the print coverage with great interest. People were shocked—shocked—that the head...
By: Sara Kropf As I've written about many times before, the loss amount drives many white-collar criminal sentences. The government's view of loss amount plays a significant role in the court's ultimate determination of that factor. the government often takes a very...
By: Sara Kropf Nearly all of my clients face federal white-collar criminal charges. Many of them seem to believe that federal criminal charges are more serious than state criminal charges, or that the penalties will be steeper. A recent case from Texas shows that's...
By: Sara Kropf For most crimes, the government must prove that the defendant acted intentionally. This seems like it should be a fairly high bar particularly in white-collar criminal cases but it's not. For most crimes, the government need only prove that the conduct...
By: Sara Kropf Sometimes I'm asked whether this blog has led to clients. That's a hard question to answer. The simple answer is probably no. I don't write this blog for SEO purposes, and I don't write it for the person-on-the-street. Most of my readers are lawyers,...
By: Sara Kropf In North Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. United States, the Third Circuit addressed another interesting legal issue that arose within the Bridgegate scandal in New Jersey. You can read more about that case here. The media’s right to access information about...
By: Sara Kropf I work with a lot of corporate executives who are being investigated by the government. They are folks who are used to being in control. They lead divisions or units or entire companies. They lead a government agency. They handle problems inside the...
By: Sara Kropf Prosecutors who engage in misconduct are rarely subjected to ethics charges. In a recent case out of the Ninth Circuit, the prosecutor engaged in wrongdoing, the court suggests that he should be referred to the bar, yet there is no indication in the...
By: Sara Kropf Warren “Ken” Paxton, Jr. is the attorney general of Texas. He's had some ups and downs this week, to be sure. On Friday, October 7, 2016, the Eastern District of Texas dismissed all of the securities charges filed by the SEC against him. On Wednesday,...
By: Sara Kropf About two years ago, I saw a video on Facebook about a Kickstarter campaign for the Coolest cooler. I thought it was a joke. It was a cooler with a blender and a Bluetooth speaker, plus giant wheels, built in bottle opener and USB charger. My older son...