Featured Articles

No notice to subscriber required when officers seize stored email from ISP

Alain Leibman
October 30, 2009 22:07

The usual protocol when agents execute a search warrant at an office or home is to leave a copy of the warrant with the person in control of the premises, often but not necessarily the owner.  Rule 41(f)(1)(C) requires it.  But what kind of notice is required when agents execute a search...

Recent Articles

Fifth Circuit Pulls Back the Reach of 18 U.S.C. ยง 666 As It Relates to Bribery of Local Judges

January 18, 2010 15:14

Long a favorite weapon of federal prosecutors, Section 666 of Title 18 makes it a crime for an agent of a state or local organization or agency to corruptly demand, offer, or accept anything of value of $5,000 or more in connection with any business or transaction of the organization or agency,...

Another Revisit to Madoff and His Charity Stakeholders - Hadassah and Yeshiva University: Now A Perplexing Tale of Three Forms 990 - Part I - Installment 22

January 15, 2010 18:37

This is the twenty-second in a series of installments on this blog that are discussing issues arising in the aftermath of the long global Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”). Installments 3 through 8, Installment 10 and Installments 14 through 21 of this series focused on the...

DOJ Issues New Guidance Requiring Fuller and Earlier Disclosures by Prosecutors

January 05, 2010 18:37

On January 4, 2010, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden issued a series of three memoranda, published on the website of the Department of Justice, which represented the culmination of a several-months long study of discovery practices among the United States Attorney's Offices and retraining of...

Critical defense exhibits excluded for failure to comply with Rule 16(b) reciprocal discovery obligations

January 01, 2010 19:48

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(b) imposes discovery requirements on the defense which are triggered when the government complies with its own, initial disclosure obligations. Some defense counsel treat the reciprocal obligation as more or less voluntary, betting that they will be spared the...

SEC to formally invite and specifically reward cooperation for the first time

December 23, 2009 23:01

All United States Attorney's Offices have routinized the practice of cooperation and standardized their form of cooperation agreement which, following Section 5K1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e), specifies to a degree both the benefits of cooperation and the consequences...

Year-end Advice on Obtaining 2008 Forms 990 by Charity Stakeholders - Installment 21

December 23, 2009 19:06

This is the twenty-first in a series of installments on this blog that are discussing some issues arising in the aftermath of the long global Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”). Installments 3 through 8, Installment 10 and Installments 14 through 20 of this series focused on...

Jury verdict can be impeached by fellow-juror testimony about racially offensive comments made during deliberations

December 21, 2009 22:06

Common wisdom is that a jury's verdict cannot later be impeached through the testimony of deliberating jurors regarding misconduct which occurred inside the jury room. Federal Rule of Evidence 606(b) explicitly provides that fellow-juror testimony is inadmissible to impeach a verdict, except to...

Ninth Circuit rejects use of Dura Pharmaceuticals' civil loss-calculation method to fix "loss" for criminal sentencing

December 21, 2009 21:06

Nearly five years, the Supreme Court held in Dura Pharmaceuticals. Inc. v. Broudo, 544 U.S. 336 (2005) that a civil securities fraud plaintiff was required to show both that an alleged fraud was disclosed to the market and that the disclosure caused a loss to shareholders, that is, that the share...

The Madoff Loss Game: Will Some Charity and Other Stakeholders Become Even Bigger Losers as a Result of One District Judge's Analysis - Installment 20

December 21, 2009 17:12

This is the twentieth in a series of installments on this blog that are discussing some issues arising in the aftermath of the long global Ponzi scheme of Bernard L. Madoff (“Madoff”). Installments 3 through 8, Installment 10 and Installments 14 through 19 of this series focused on the...