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The Truth Will Out – Even About Mar-a-Lago
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December 27, 2025
The Truth Will Out – Even About Mar-a-Lago
By: James Trusty
The Truth Will Out is a fairly obscure phrase that was popularized in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” It suggests that even against the most active obstruction and obfuscation, the Truth seemingly has an invisible hand behind it that relentlessly—if slowly—pushes it into plain view. Nearly 2 ½ years after the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Truth may be emerging into the daylight. August 8, 2022 will stay imprinted in my memories like no other day. Then Former-President Trump had retained me a couple of months earlier. I was still getting to know the various players that formed his legal team as well as the many others who offered advice or service to the President, and I knew there was…
White-Collar Sentencing Under the Amended Guidelines: Fewer Steps, Same Dance
November 12, 2025
White-Collar Sentencing Under the Amended Guidelines: Fewer Steps, Same Dance
By: Robert Ward
For years, the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Guidelines Manual has guided courts through a three-step process to determine the sentence to be imposed. At a high level, that process looked like this: First, the court would calculate the guideline range based on relevant offense conduct and related factors, along with the defendant’s criminal history. Second, the court would consider the Sentencing Commission’s policy statements or commentary…
Personal Information Flo-wing out of Control
October 20, 2025
Personal Information Flo-wing out of Control
By: Lauren Scribner
In September, a nearly $60 million settlement was reached in Frasco, et al v. Flo Health, Inc., Meta Platforms, Inc., Google, LLC, and Flurry, Inc. The case,[1] a class action filed in 2021, alleged inter alia that Flo Health Inc. (“Flo”), a popular women’s health tracking application estimated to have over 38 million monthly users, invaded the privacy of its users by sharing personal and…
Justice Would Be Served by an ‘Open File’ Policy for Prosecutors
March 2, 2012
Justice Would Be Served by an ‘Open File’ Policy for Prosecutors
By: Jeff Ifrah
A couple of years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice made an effort to systematize and improve its discovery obligations under Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court case that requires prosecutors to disclose information in their files that would tend to exculpate criminal defendants. A U.S. attorney, speaking at a conference of defense lawyers, commented at the time that the department takes its Brady…
D.C. Circuit Tackles Ex-Prosecutor’s Allegations of Privacy Violations
February 20, 2012
D.C. Circuit Tackles Ex-Prosecutor’s Allegations of Privacy Violations
By: Ifrah Law
After a nearly decade-long legal battle, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking to dismiss once and for all the privacy suit of Richard Convertino, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit who alleges that the DOJ illegally gave the press details of an internal investigation into his alleged misconduct. In February 2004, Convertino filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of…
Does 5th Amendment Protect Computer Files From Decryption?
February 9, 2012
Does 5th Amendment Protect Computer Files From Decryption?
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
A U.S. District Court in Colorado recently considered whether the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination extends to the compelled production of decrypted computer files. It is beyond dispute that the government may not force a suspect to provide an encryption password if the password would provide a necessary link in the chain of evidence leading to the suspect’s indictment. A much more difficult question is whether…
Private Suits Under FCPA — An Ill-Advised Idea
January 31, 2012
Private Suits Under FCPA — An Ill-Advised Idea
By: Ifrah Law
Late last year, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would amend the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to permit private suits against certain foreign companies and individuals. The bill, entitled the “Foreign Business Bribery Prohibition Act of 2011,” would significantly alter the landscape of FCPA enforcement, and not for the better. Perlmutter proposed similar versions of the bill…
New York Mah Jong Ruling May Help Cause of Online Poker
January 29, 2012
New York Mah Jong Ruling May Help Cause of Online Poker
By: Ifrah Law
Mah Jong, the ancient Chinese tile-based table game, can now count itself as a winner in the old debate of games of skill vs. games of chance, according to a New York state judge, who recently ruled that the game demands more than luck. On January 4, 2012, Criminal Court Judge John H. Wilson declared in People v. Feng that “the court declines to declare…
