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Overrun and Overreach: the New Challenge to Grand Jury Subpoenas
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March 26, 2026
Overrun and Overreach: the New Challenge to Grand Jury Subpoenas
By: James Trusty
Most criminal law practitioners are quite familiar with clients receiving grand jury subpoenas. There are rituals we go through to figure out whether it’s a “friendly” subpoena, i.e. just trying to get business records from the client to be used against some other target, or whether it’s the visible start of a potential criminal prosecution against the client. Because the legal standard to justify issuing a subpoena is so low, an outright fight against the prosecutor issuing the subpoena is extremely uphill. A motion to quash is only granted “if compliance would be unreasonable or oppressive.”[1]Until a couple of weeks ago, that framework usually translated into successful challenges only when the subpoena’s request was so broad in terms of substance…
Through the Looking Glasses: Will the Public Accept Meta Ray-Bans?
March 17, 2026
Through the Looking Glasses: Will the Public Accept Meta Ray-Bans?
By: Nicole Kardell
What do a plastic grocery sack and a pair of Meta Ray-Bans have in common? The harm they can do to others who are powerless to their use. A grocer may pack a shopper’s groceries in a disposable plastic bag, and the shopper may be fine with the packing – the bag is cheap for both. But the environment ends up paying a hefty toll…
The New Corporate Enforcement Blueprint: DOJ’s “First-Ever” Department-Wide Corporate Enforcement Policy
March 16, 2026
The New Corporate Enforcement Blueprint: DOJ’s “First-Ever” Department-Wide Corporate Enforcement Policy
By: Robert Ward
Understanding the DOJ’s New Corporate Enforcement Framework On March 10, 2026, just weeks after the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) released its updated voluntary corporate self-disclosure program for fraud and financial misconduct, the Department of Justice introduced its first Department‑wide Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP). The CEP establishes a uniform approach for evaluating voluntary disclosures and cooperation across all DOJ…
Lesson From Ex-Congressman’s Plight: Follow Rules, Come Clean
August 13, 2010
Lesson From Ex-Congressman’s Plight: Follow Rules, Come Clean
By: Ifrah Law
Federal prosecutors often take very seriously the prohibitions on illegal lobbying and on withholding the truth from the FBI. That’s one of the lessons that former U.S. Rep. Mark Siljander probably learned last month when he pleaded guilty to two federal charges relating to his alleged ties to an Islamic charity claimed to have funded money to international terrorists. When Siljander was indicted in January…
In Lerach Case, An Interesting Sentencing Distinction
August 11, 2010
In Lerach Case, An Interesting Sentencing Distinction
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles just took an interesting and nuanced position concerning a very high-profile request for community service as part of a guilty plea. Disgraced plaintiffs attorney William Lerach pleaded guilty in 2007 to a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice and make false statements in many of his law firm’s class actions. He completed a two-year prison term and is…
Honest Services Fraud — Still Alive and Kicking?
August 9, 2010
Honest Services Fraud — Still Alive and Kicking?
By: Ifrah Law
We wrote recently that the very recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Skilling, limiting the reach of the federal “honest services” statute, may have an immediate impact on the ongoing case against Kevin A. Ring, a former associate of Jack Abramoff. See “Skilling Having Impact on Pending Honest Services Fraud Cases,” July 28, 2010. But last week, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle…
Court Places Limits on DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Powers
August 4, 2010
Court Places Limits on DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Powers
By: Ifrah Law
The D.C. Circuit recently handed a significant victory to anyone with assets in the U.S. – especially anyone under investigation in another country for violation of that country’s laws. As reported on the Blog of Legal Times, the D.C. Circuit issued a decision on July 16 holding that the Department of Justice could not seize the assets of two funds pending Brazil’s investigation of the…
Federal Sentencing: A Longer Sentence For Post-Conviction Comments to the Press?
August 2, 2010
Federal Sentencing: A Longer Sentence For Post-Conviction Comments to the Press?
By: Ifrah Law
Lynne Stewart, an attorney who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to a terrorist group by passing messages to and from her imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, to his followers, was re-sentenced last month by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in the Southern District of New York to 10 years in prison, far more than observers expected. But most surprising was the…
