Woman prosecuted for misappropriating funds designated for COVID Medical Provider Relief
Amina Abbas, of Taylor, was charged by indictment Wednesday in the Eastern District of Michigan with embezzlement of government property. The indictment includes the first criminal charges for the intentional misuse of funds intended to provide relief to health care providers and maintain the access to medical care during the pandemic, money set aside to […]
Sessions memo rescinded!
News just broke that the Acting AG, Monty Wilkinson, has rescinded the infamous Sessions‘s charging policy, and reinstated AG Holder’s charging policy, which directs prosecutors to conduct an individualized assessment of relevant facts in making charging and sentencing decisions. The Wilkinson memo “supersedes any conflicting Justice Manual provisions.” Today’s guidance ends Sessions’s mandate that prosecutors […]
In a blow to prosecutors, Judge Middlebrooks has ruled that prosecutors cannot tactically use Rule 48 when faced with an expiring statute of limitations.
During the pandemic, I have heard of several instances where prosecutors facing the expiration of a statute of limitations period will file an Information, only to then seek dismissal of the Information without prejudice in order to “stop the clock” from running. The government is in essence playing a game in order to skirt a […]
Two new PPP fraud indictments this week
This week brought two new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) fraud indictments. The first indictment is out of the Southern District of Texas. The case is United States v. Amir Aqeel, et al., Case No, 4:20-cr-583 (S.D. Texas). In Aqeel, seven individuals were charged with filing over 80 fraudulent loan applications worth $16 million. The defendants […]
Some relief for client in federal custody
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5546, the Effective Assistance of Counsel in the Digital Era Act. The Legislation extends the attorney-client confidentiality to emails sent to and from federal prisons. The bill requires the Bureau of Prisons to exclude from monitoring the contents of any privileged electronic communications. The bill also […]