By: Sara Kropf There has been a lot of talk in the media recently about obstruction of justice. Obstruction of justice is a fascinating topic, to be sure. But whether the President of the United States obstructed justice when he fired the Director of the FBI is not...
By: Sara Kropf The Department of Justice is always busy prosecuting fraud related to government contracts. The two obvious reasons why this is a DOJ priority are (1) a lot of public money is spent through government contracts, and (2) the size and complexity of the...
By: Sara Kropf Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit—love him or hate him—just wrote a(nother) scathing opinion. He remanded a criminal restitution order, concluding that Bank of America was not entitled to any restitution for fraudulent mortgage loans because...
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 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 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 We usually think about the right to a jury as one for a defendant facing charges. But it’s worth remembering that agencies are people too. Well, at least when it comes to the right to a jury trial in a civil case. In a recent Ninth Circuit opinion, the...
By: Sara Kropf Dear Governor McDonnell’s Legal Team: As you probably know, the government decided not to retry Governor Bob McDonnell yesterday. This is big news. It follows his victory in the Supreme Court. He won. You won. Was this the best paragraph you've ever...
By: Sara Kropf The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has been used by prosecutors to charge individuals who "exceed authorized access" (or act "without authorization") on a computer--sometimes their employers' computers, sometimes a stranger's computer that they are...
By: Sara Kropf Like most defense attorneys, I welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision in the McDonnell case. The Court vacated former Governor McDonnell’s convictions for Hobbs Act extortion and honest services fraud and remanded the case to the Fourth...