By Andrea Moseley Both scam political action committees and COVID-19 fundraising are currently rife with opportunities for fraud. These groups labeled “scam PACs” purportedly raise money for political causes but instead, direct the money they receive from donors...
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...
By Sara Kropf The Department of Justice’s “supplemental and amended” sentencing memorandum in the Roger Stone criminal case is nothing short of extraordinary. You can find a copy of the updated Stone memo here. Lots of commentators have hit the high points about this...
By Sara Kropf Taint teams are dubious at best. A taint team is a group of government agents or prosecutors selected to review material seized through a search warrant to determine whether any of the material is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If it is,...
By Dan Portnov 2019 ended with Congress trying to tackle insider trading but 2020 begins with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals once again commanding center stage in defining the elements of the offense. In United States v. Blaszczak (issued on December 30, but no...
By Dan Portnov Not busy enough with impeachment in the run up to the holidays, the U.S. House of Representatives on December 5 passed a bipartisan bill to prohibit insider trading. The Insider Trading Prohibition Act passed by a vote of 410 to 13 and now awaits a...
By Sara Kropf Back in September 2018, I wrote about how Michael Cohen was pleading guilty without the benefit of a cooperation agreement. I said that it was possible that the government would later file a Rule 35 motion, seeking a reduction in his sentence based on...
By Sara Kropf There seems to be a disturbing trend by Department of Justice attorneys to encourage defense counsel to disqualify themselves based on a supposed “conflict of interest” without disclosing to defense counsel why the prosecutor thinks a conflict exists....
By Dan Portnov You know that it’s been a busy month in law enforcement news when a speech and memo announcement by DOJ Criminal Division Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Brian Benczkowski concerning corporate criminal penalties arrives with little fanfare. It must be...
By: Sara Kropf The government usually turns over interview memos, or FBI 302s, during discovery in a criminal case. As I’ve written before, a 302 is a summary of a witness interview written by an FBI agent. It is in narrative form, sometimes has quotes in it (but more...