In the News

On September 2, 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that, while affirming the convictions of the defendants raising the appeals, held that the mass surveillance program operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and was potentially unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. In 2013, Edward […]

The DOJ and FBI have announced several measures to “build a more robust internal compliance program” overseeing the FBI’s applications for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Spurred by the president’s criticisms of FISA and an Inspector General report critical of the FBI’s use of FISA warrants, the reforms seek to “ensure the accuracy of FISA applications, as well as the active oversight of applications targeting elected officials, candidates for federal elected offices, and their staffs.”

Recent growth in the telemedicine field as a result of COVID-19 has prompted the government to take an aggressive approach in targeting suspected healthcare fraud. As more healthcare providers adapt to the new environment under COVID-19 and try to provide telemedicine services to their patients, there is a real risk that the government ends up targeting providers who are new to telemedicine and are simply making mistakes due to a lack of familiarity with the regulations. Further increasing this risk is the fact that the federal government has created “dozens of new billing codes” and waived certain limitations and regulations given the COVID-19 pandemic, making it harder for healthcare providers to know what is and isn’t allowed in the rapidly changing new world of telemedicine.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia announced that two new Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys have joined their office–a full-time prosecutor from Fort Stewart and a SAUSA dedicated to prosecuting federal animal cruelty crimes. The Department of Justice announced that this is the first-ever dedicated prosecutor from Fort Stewart and only the second time that a U.S. Attorney’s Office has added a dedicated animal cruelty prosecutor. The appointments signal a likely increase in prosecutions out of Fort Stewart and of animal cruelty crimes, such as the current investigation and prosecution into two alleged cockfighting rings in South Georgia.

Recent developments in the DOJ’s approach to targeting PPP loan fraud offenses suggest that the DOJ is going to increase its use of criminal “conspiracy” laws to charge multiple defendants together for schemes involving PPP loans.

President Trump has nominated five individuals, including four judges, to sit on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.The president’s picks have elicited criticism from advocates of criminal justice reform on both ends of the political spectrum, especially the president’s choice of three judges who have well-established reputations of being “tough on crime” and imposing long sentences.

The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that the judicial emergency orders suspending and tolling deadlines in criminal cases also suspended the statutory rule under O.C.G.A. 17-7-50 that a defendant denied bond is entitled to release if the state does not indict him within 90 days. The ruling effectively allows indefinite pretrial detention, but the Court left the door open for constitutional challenges.

Federal authorities in Portland and other cities have been targeting and arresting protestors and charging them with federal crimes, often petty offenses occurring on federal property. According to a recent article by ProPublica, protestors in Portland being arrested and charged with federal misdemeanors have been subjected to bond conditions prohibiting them from participating in future protests. One order prohibits the defendant from attending “any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gathering in the state of Oregon.” Legal experts have criticized these conditions as violating the First Amendment.

Throughout July, the Department of Justice has been announcing an increasing number of prosecutions against individuals accused of “COVID Relief Fraud,” also referred to as CARES Act Fraud. Most cases involved the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The past week saw cases brought across the country from California to Florida and included charges for wire fraud, bank fraud, false statements, money laundering, and healthcare fraud.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in West Virginia is charging an 18-year-old man with a federal crime based on alleged threats to police officers that he posted on Snapchat, where he posted that he wanted to shoot officers who gave him a citation for a marijuana offense. Prosecutors are charging him with interstate communications containing a threat to injure the person of another under 18 U.S.C. 875(c), which carries up to five years in prison.