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Investigations Posts
How Poking the Bear Gets Your Assets Kicked
Aug 23, 2017
How Poking the Bear Gets Your Assets Kicked
For many decades, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was viewed as a very conservative place, where prosecutors were usually quite comfortable with the status quo, a largely “law and order” kind of venue. During the Obama presidency, the Court’s makeup changed dramatically, with a batch of younger, more liberal judges joining the “old guard”…
You Can’t Run From Justice
Jul 19, 2017
You Can’t Run From Justice
Just last week, a Kentucky lawyer by the name of Eric Conn was sentenced to twelve years in prison by a federal judge for bribery and theft of government money. Though similar sentences are doled out around the country on a daily basis, this was unique because the defendant was not even in the courtroom. …
The Lowdown on Takedowns
Jul 13, 2017
The Lowdown on Takedowns
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a battery of other federal law enforcement officials today announced the “largest health care fraud takedown” in U.S. history, with 412 charged defendants, including 56 doctors, accused of defrauding taxpayers of roughly $1.3 billion. Importantly, the takedown focused on the over-prescription of opioids, a phenomenon that has led to thousands…
The “Third Party” Catch-22
Jun 12, 2017
The “Third Party” Catch-22
As the Department of Justice has been doubling down on law enforcement overreach, the Supreme Court has just decided to hear a case that may limit the use of a common tool that law enforcement uses to infringe upon the privacy rights of innocent people. The case, Carpenter v. United States, arises out of a…
When A Threat Becomes A Crime
Mar 2, 2017
When A Threat Becomes A Crime
A Miami Beach man was recently accused of threatening President Trump on Twitter. He sent the threat directly to Secret Service, challenging them to stop his Inauguration Day surprise. They did, and Dominic Puopolo, who used the screen name of Lord Jesus Christ, is now in federal custody. Sending a threat to the President, to an ex-wife,…
Alexa and Fifth Amendment Law
Jan 17, 2017
Alexa and Fifth Amendment Law
It sits in your house, passively recording everything you say. It knows what you like. It knows what you listen to. It knows what you buy. It knows who’s in the room with you. And now, it might tell the police all about it. “It” is the Amazon Echo, a revolution in the “internet of…
The E-Rate Honey Pot
Aug 12, 2016
The E-Rate Honey Pot
When you grant access to a $ 4 billion fund and give fund participants relative autonomy in how they use those funds, ne’er-do-wells will sniff their way to the honey pot. Keeping them out can be a challenge. So goes the story of the federally administered Schools and Libraries Program, better known as E-Rate. Established…
Keep It Short and Prosper
Jun 9, 2016
Keep It Short and Prosper
What a difference two words can make. Just ask the Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) or Americans for Prosperity (AFP), two organizations that filed separate lawsuits against the same defendant, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, over the same issue: whether Harris’s office had the right to access the organizations’ donor information. (The cases are Center…
This Man Is Dodging Wall St.
Jun 8, 2016
This Man Is Dodging Wall St.
Rather than confront accusations of baseless zeal and prosecutorial overreach, New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara would rather spend his energy dodging accountability. In 2010, Bharara launched a crusade against Wall Street, prosecuting several hedge funds he suspected of insider trading. Highly publicized raids followed. In the wake of the financial meltdown, Bharara was hailed…
Feds Open The Gates and Seize the Domain Names
Apr 28, 2016
Feds Open The Gates and Seize the Domain Names
Does the federal government have the right to seize a domain name without notice? With growing frequency, the feds have seized the domain names of thousands of websites for alleged criminal wrongdoing. The latest example is the seizure earlier this week of 67 website domain names for the alleged illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit…
