By Sara Kropf This week, the Department of Justice announced that it was dropping charges against MIT professor Gang Chen. It had accused him of hiding his ties to China and indicted him for wire fraud, failing to report a foreign bank account, and making a false...
By Sara Kropf In most white-collar cases, intent is the key issue. The government generally has to prove that the defendant intentionally acted to break the law and it wasn’t simply a mistake or an oversight. Circumstantial evidence is enough to prove intent, and, at...
By: Sara Kropf A few months ago, I wrote about the successful effort by a U.S. Attorney’s Office to convince the First Circuit to remove the name of a prosecutor involved in a case about Brady violations. Now, in a case in Philadelphia, a USAO did not ask the district...
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 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 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...
In the past few months, there have been several big wins for white-collar defendants. Because we’re in desperate need for some good news as of late, here are highlights of those victories. As I’ve pointed out before, DOJ doesn’t publicize its losses, so it’s...
By: Sara Kropf A few months ago, I wrote about a trade secrets case in Indianapolis. It looked like the case was going well for the defense. As any trial lawyer knows, momentum is key. Momentum just swung in the biggest way for the defense. The government filed—and...
By: Sara Kropf The kind folks at White Collar Crime Prof Blog let me post over there today (thanks Ellen!). The Second Circuit issued a great opinion for white collar defendants limiting the continuing conspiracy theory. Finally, a court has reined in the government's...
By: Sara Kropf Da Mayor: Doctor. Mookie: C’mon, what? What? Da Mayor: Always do the right thing. Mookie: That’s it? Da Mayor: That’s it. Mookie: I got it. I'm gone. Do the Right Thing (1989) (yes, 1989—you are that old) Except for “not guilty,” the sweetest words for...