By Andrea L. Moseley As expected, fraud relating to the present COVID-19 pandemic is being prosecuted for the first time. These crimes of opportunity were predictable and the Department of Justice has come to the table, loaded for bear. Now, our white collar defense...
Can the Government Seek Forfeiture of a Criminal Defense Attorney’s Fees? (Part 2)
By Sara Kropf In Part 1 of this series, we outlined the standard that the Department of Justice follows to seek forfeiture of a criminal defense attorney’s fees. If DOJ seeks forfeiture of your fees, you could find out in the forfeiture count of an indictment against...
Can the Government Seek Forfeiture of a Criminal Defense Attorney’s Fees? (Part 1)
By Sara Kropf The Department of Justice’s Justice Manual (formerly the U.S. Attorney’s Manual) includes a section that describes “Attorney Fee Forfeiture Guidelines." Although technically not binding on anyone, the guidelines offer a helpful understanding of when and...
What Happens If Your Client Dies While the Appeal Is Pending? (Hint: Appeals Matter)
By: Sara Kropf David Brooks apparently lived a rather lavish lifestyle. As the head of a successful body armor company, he was rumored to have thrown a $10 million bat mitzvah party for his daughter that included performances by 50 Cent and Aerosmith. In 2007, the fun...
Government Wins Finders Keepers: Criminal Forfeiture Cannot Be Used to Repay a Las Vegas Debt
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...
Is the Government Throwing in the Towel on Pre-Trial Seizure of Untainted Assets? A Win in the Fourth Circuit Suggests Yes
By: Sara Kropf Perhaps the most troubling type of criminal forfeiture is the pretrial restraint of untainted assets. The Department of Justice will seize assets, before proving a single allegation of wrongdoing, even where those assets are not linked to the...
Not April Fool’s: Big Win in Forfeiture Case in Supreme Court
By: Sara Kropf On Wednesday, the United States Supreme Court decided Luis v. United States. It is a big win for criminal defendants and for criminal defense lawyers alike. The Court held that For the reasons stated, we conclude that the defendant in this case has a...
This Shouldn’t Be News: Second Circuit Affirms that Government Needs Warrant to Seize Property
By: Sara Kropf The government's aggressive methods to seize a defendant’s assets before he is convicted of a crime hinders a defendant’s ability to choose—and pay for—his lawyer. A recent Second Circuit case limits the government’s ability to do so. It is based on the...
When the Good Wife Faces Criminal Forfeiture: The Government’s Efforts to Seize a Spouse’s Assets after Conviction
By: Sara Kropf The federal government’s aggressive approach to criminal forfeiture unquestionably targets innocent bystanders to crime. In fact, the law makes it easy—and profitable—for the government to do so. A recent high-profile insider trading case in New...
Chief Justice Roberts Is On the Side of Criminal Defendants? His Best Quote Yet
By: Sara Kropf The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to counsel. The Fifth Amendment establishes the grand jury. What happens when the right to counsel conflicts with the grand jury’s role? The grand jury wins. So says the United States Supreme Court in the context...