In the News

The DEA has released its “National Drug Threat Assessment” for the Year 2020. The report contains an exhaustive review of topics such as the different sources for different drugs imported into the U.S., the price and purity levels of several controlled substances, data regarding where most drugs are trafficked or seized, consumption patterns, and other information that can be helpful to defense attorneys in drug cases.

BOP Director Michael Carvajal testified before the Senate on April 15, 2021. He testified that the BOP does not currently have any immediate plans to send inmates back to prison who are currently on home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The director also testified, however, that Congress needs to pass a law to ensure inmates are not send back when the COVID-19 emergency order is lifted.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about the rise of gun-related deaths in the U.S. and the federal government’s strategy to reduce them. His remarks suggest that criminal prosecutions will play a central part to that strategy. The AG’s remarks about keeping guns “out of the hands of criminals” suggest an increase in […]

This month, a group of current and former prosecutors and law enforcement officials issued a “Joint Statement on Sentencing Chances and Addressing Past Extreme Sentences.” The group is calling for reforms including the expansion of compassionate release, new agencies or units to review long sentences, and prospective limits on prosecutors’ ability to charge individuals for offenses that carry especially long mandatory minimums.

The Department of Justice recently announced that it has charged 474 defendants with fraud related to COVID-19 relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, and the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. The DOJ reports that the cases combined involve over $569 million in potential loss amounts, and that they have been brought in 56 federal districts.

As reported by Politico, the Biden administration has released a list of 11 candidates for the federal judiciary, including picks for three circuit court vacancies, seven district court vacancies, and an administrative vacancy. The most high profile pick is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the D.C. District Court, who has now been nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a recent op-ed, former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein describes emerging trends suggesting that the federal government will soon take a more aggressive approach in investigating and prosecuting federal fraud cases. The article discusses the multi-decade decline in federal prosecutions, statements made by Biden’s DOJ appointees, and the recent COVID-19 relief legislation that could be the focus of several fraud prosecutions in the coming years.

In Terry v. US, involving the scope of the First Step Act’s sentence reductions for crack offenders, the DOJ has changed its position to support a broader reading of the law. Under the defendant and DOJ’s reading of the law, more inmates convicted for crack cocaine offenses will have “covered offenses” making them eligible for sentence reductions.

A case involving egregious prosecutor misconduct finally ended with a written opinion by the trial judge referring the prosecutors for investigation by the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Government had failed to disclose an exculpatory document until the middle of trial, where it produced a document dump and did not inform the defense of the new evidence, and emails between prosecutors showed they planned to “bury it” and lied to the court.

The DOJ has announced a state-federal “Cyber Fraud Task Force” targeting suspected “BEC” fraud (Business Email Compromise) in metro Atlanta. Statistics reflect a significant increase in BEC fraud over the years, and the DOJ reports that the metro Atlanta area is one of the top 5 clusters for BEC fraud cases in the country, suggesting there will be a significant increase in BEC fraud prosecutions there.