In a pair of criminal cases , the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a one-two punch to the Justice Department’s prosecution of corruption cases based on violations of the criminal wire fraud statute. In Ciminelli v. U.S., and Percoco v. U.S., the Supreme Court reversed the convictions in two separate decisions relsasedd on the same day. The Ciminelli and Percoco criminal cases were brought by the...
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge by Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank, to its criminal prosecution for anti-money laundering violations and evasion of Iran Sanctions. In a 7-2 decision, authored by Justice Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court rejected Halkbank’s claim that it was immune from U.S. federal criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the Second Circuit to consider whether the common law...
The Volkov Law Group is pleased to publish this blog article co-authored by two of our summer interns, Benjamin Clachko, a rising sophomore at the University of Vermont, and Ali Kaplan, a rising sophomore at Lehigh University. Benji and Ali have been learning about civil litigation generally, and discovery in particular. This recent Supreme Court opinion caught their attention. We think it may be of...
The federal criminal law prohibiting computer fraud has been in desperate need for a rewrite. Title 18, Section 1030, was drafted at a time in the mid-1980s when computer access was in its infancy — now, computer access is the primary terrain for serious criminal fraud, hacking and other transnational or organized crime. Given the current state of dysfunction in Washington, D.C., it is unlikely...
In a companion case to Trump v. Vance, which I discussed in Part I, the Supreme Court, in Trump v. Mazars, rejected Trump and DOJ’s challenges to enforcement of congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. Again, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the Court, in a 7-2 vote, upheld the subpoenas but ordered the lower court to apply a comprehensive four-part test to the proposed subpoenas....
The Supreme Court, in two important decisions issued on the last day of the Term, rejected Trump and DOJ challenges to a New York Criminal Grand Jury subpoena and several Congressional subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. In a decisive ruling, in Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court rejected by a 7-2 vote, President Trump’s challenges to a New York State grand jury subpoena. In a separate case, Trump...
In a decisive ruling, in Trump v. Vance, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s challenges to a New York State grand jury subpoena. In a 7-2 vote, The Supreme Court rejected the Trump Administration challenges. In a separate case, Trump v. Mazars, which will be analyzed in Part II tomorrow, the Supreme Court rejected challenges by a vote of 7 to 2 to Congress’ subpoena...
In an important case decided in June 2020, the Supreme Court, in Liu et al v. SEC, addressed the SEC’s ability to seek “equitable relief” in civil proceedings. In 2017, the Supreme Court, in Kokesh v. SEC, ruled that a disgorgement order in an SEC action constitutes a “penalty” for purposes of application of the five-year statute of limitations. The Supreme Court left open the...
One of the more esoteric debates among legal scholars focuses on defining corruption and the political roots of anti-corruption efforts. As it turns out, scholars have pointed to the Framers debate and provisions in the U.S. Constitution to support the idea that in creating the United States government, the Framers were significantly concerned about the pernicious effects of corruption on government. The debate on corruption...
The Supreme Court ruled in a criminal tax case, Marinello v. United States, that a criminal tax obstruction of justice was overly broad. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government must prove that the defendant was aware of a pending tax-related proceeding, such as an investigation or audit, or could reasonably foresee that such a proceeding would commence. The Supreme Court’s...
