As most people have figured out by now, the most interesting development related to the charges unsealed today by Bob Mueller & company is the guilty plea entered into by an apparently marginal Trump Campaign operative named George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos established direct and indirect contact with some Russians early in the campaign and lied about it later to the FBI. Not a good career choice. Now he has entered into a cooperation agreement and pled guilty under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 (the Martha Stewart statute) to making false statements to government officials. Even without a downward variance his Guidelines Range is 0-6 months, so he won't be doing any time. According to the U.S. v. George Papadopoulos Statement of the Offense, which is the key document in the case, on April 26, 2016, while Papadopoulos was working on the campaign, one of Papadopoulos's foreign contacts advised him that the Russians had access to "dirt" on Mrs. Clinton and "thousands of emails." Interestingly, the Statement of the Offense does not explicitly say that the emails were offered to the Trump Campaign by the Russians or that Papadopoulos shared the information about the emails with Trump Campaign officials. Here also are the U.S. v. George Papadopoulos Criminal Information, and the U.S. v. George Papadopoulos Plea Agreement.
Tag: false statements
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In an important decision handed down on July 5th, the Ninth Circuit, following the DC Circuit's lead in United States v. Safavian, 528 F.3d 957 (DC Cir. 2008), held that the federal government cannot sustain a fraudulent concealment conviction under 18 U.S.C. Section 1001 (a) (1), unless "a statute or government regulation requires the defendant to disclose specific information to a particular person or entity" and the defendant submits a report, or makes a statement, that fails to do so. In these situations, "the defendant's silence is akin to an affirmative misrepresentation, and therefore logically falls within the scope of [Section] 1001's prohibition on false and fraudulent statements." But it is not enough that the defendant violates a general ethical/regulatory duty to report fraud, waste, and abuse. Any relationship between such duties and Section 1001 is too tenuous. The case is United States v. White Eagle. Although several other counts were reversed, this was largely because "the crimes charged did not fit the facts." The discussion of Section 1001 material concealment is by far the most critical part of the opinion.
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Corporate Counsel's Sue Reisinger reports here that Rod Rosenstein, the universally respected U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, refused to sign his name on either Lauren Stevens indictment, because he did not believe that the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction. The case was prosecuted by District of Massachusetts AUSAs, but venue was found in Maryland. The typical practice is for the U.S. Attorney in the district of prosecution to sign all indictments issued by the grand juries in his/her district, or at least to have his/her signature block signed by an AUSA. This did not happen in the Stevens case. Rosenstein, a former colleague of mine, is the quintessence of straight-arrowhood. His failure, literally, to sign-off on the Stevens charges surely sent an important signal to Judge Roger Titus, who threw the case out under Rule 29. Let me give you an idea of how well respected this Jimmy Stewart, Boy Scout, is. Rosenstein, the Republican appointee in an overwhelmingly Democratic state with two Democratic U.S. Senators, has yet to be replaced, even though a Democrat has held the White House for 2 and one-half years. The story of the Stevens prosecution gets curiouser and curiouser.
(wisenberg)
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Here is yesterday's opinion from the D.C.Circuit in United States v. David Safavian. The former Jack Abramoff friend and colleague was convicted upon retrial, after the appellate court threw out the original convictions on various grounds. The primary contention in the latest appeal was vindictive prosecution, as new charges were added after the remand. The Court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the government added the new charges to counter Safavian's literal truth defense. Safavian's alleged felonious conduct was incredibly petty and minor in nature. The prosecution was a tremendous waste of government resources.
(wisenberg)
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Here is a case of infinitely greater importance than the Rajaratnam insider trading farce, but one that is largely getting the silent treatment from our financial press. I haven't seen a real news story on the Lauren Stevens trial since the first day of trial. This is pathetic. One of the most thoughtful blogosphere commentaries comes here from my friend David Douglas at Shook, Hardy & Bacon. David says that the prosecution represents a "gotcha" game, because the government did not set out clear markers regarding what it would and would not tolerate from in-house counsel responding to FDA document requests.
But that is clearly not the story told by the United States in the charging instrument. The Indictment quotes a 10-29-02 letter from Stevens to the FDA in which she confirms an earlier pledge of GSK's best efforts to obtain and provide "materials and documents presented at GSK-sponsored promotional programs, even if not created by, or under the custody or control of GSK." (That sounds like a pretty clear marker to me.) Stevens then allegedly told the FDA that GSK's production was complete, although she had failed to produce numerous presentation slides containing "incriminating evidence of potential off-label promotion by GSK."
According to one of the defense's responsive pleadings, Stevens and her team, "reached a consensus decision not to produce the presentations immediately, but instead to seek a meeting with the FDA at which GSK would discuss the presentations." Ms. Stevens tried several times to set up such a meeting, but the FDA did not respond positiviely, "and the anticipated meeting never occurred." That isn't exactly a compelling defense.
My friend, DC criminal defense attorney Eugene Gorokhov, of Burnham & Gorokhov, attended the first day of testimony. Eugene's eyewitness account follows:
"The Stevens trial seems to be off to an interesting start. We missed openings but saw the government's first witness. He was a reviewer for the FDA and was the person chiefly responsible for communication with GSK and Ms. Stevens in particular. The first part of his testimony focused on the basic rules – what is a package insert, indicated use, etc., and legality of off-label prescribing versus illegal off-label promotion. He testified on direct that [the FDA] initially started to send inquiries to GSK based on an anonymous complaint by a doctor regarding off-label promotion at GSK-sponsored events. The government had him read at length from correspondence between the FDA and GSK (authored by Stevens). The point seemed to be to establish that GSK clearly sought wide-ranging materials on any and all off-label promotion, and that Stevens was therefore clearly on notice of what was expected and did not provide complete or truthful responses. The prosecutor repeatedly asked whether this or that statement by Stevens could have influenced the FDA.But on cross, the defense showed some of the non-sensical aspects of the prohibition on off-label promotion. For example, if a paid speaker discusses a drug for 5 minutes and then is asked unsolicited questions the rest of the time about off-label use, it is perfectly legal. It is also legal in any setting other than promotion, ie, academia, discussions with other physicians, etc. In any of the above settings the speaker could use the same words regarding off-label use, and it is not criminalized. On the other hand, if there is a groundbreaking discovery regarding off-label use the paid speaker must keep that a secret at any promotional event. The defense attacked the government's assertion that the documents sought concerned all off-label use, as opposed to just use for weight loss. The defense confronted the government witness not only with multiple statements from GSK's correspondence with the FDA that reflected this understanding, but also the statement of the witness in a letter to the DOJ that specified off-label use for weight loss and made no mention of other uses.Finally, the government witness admitted that all of GSK's [advertising] promotional materials were in the FDA's files before they sent any document requests, and and that the FDA never previously took issue with any of these materials. However, the FDA witness indicated that he did not remember reviewing any of these promotional materials before sending the document requests to GSK."(wisenberg) -
A fascinating opinion vacating convictions and reversing the district court, was issued by the Sixth Circuit in the case of U.S. v. Ford. This appeal concerned convictions for false statements and two counts of "honest services" wire fraud. This case does not pertain to another case against Ford in which he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years imprisonment.
The government's problem with the 1001 conviction was that the statute was inapplicable to the defendant's conduct. Section 1001 requires federal jurisdiction. As stated by the court in noting the defendant's argument, "while the facts that he failed to disclose concerned an entity inseparable from federal ties, the entities to which he failed to disclose those facts were anything but federal." The court noted that the "failures to disclose financial interests were related to functions of the state government of Tennessee – the senate's and election registry's reporting requirements." The court also used the rule of lenity in support of its vacating these convictions.
The wire fraud counts were easier – Skilling limited honest services to "bribery and kickbacks," and that was not the case here.
Attorneys Representing Ford were Paul Mogin, William E. McDaniels, & M. Jesse Carlson (Williams & Connolly LLP).
(esp)
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The government has unsealed the Hughie Elbert Stover Indictment in the Southern District of West Virginia. Stover is charged with one count of 18 U.S.C.Section 1001 false statements and one count of 18 U.S.C. Section 1519 concealment, mutilation, and destruction of records and documents. This is the first indictment coming out of the government's investigation of the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion in Montcoal, West Virginia. The charges do not appear to be directly related to the explosion itself, which may account for the relative restraint of the well-crafted speaking indictment and DOJ's Press Release on Hughie Stover. Stover, head of security for Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Company, Inc., is accused of lying to federal investigators by stating that: 1) Performance security guards were forbidden to give advance warning of Mine Safety and Health Administration ("MSHA") Inspectors' presence at the mine; and 2) he would fire any guard who gave such advance notice. According to the indictment, Stover actually devised the system under which advance notice of MSHA Inspectors' presence was quickly relayed through the mine via a mine communications channel. Stover is also accused of directing an employee to destroy records of the warning system. Section 1519 was enacted as part of Sarbanes-Oxley. The indictment nowhere mentions Massey Energy or the explosion itself. The press release does, including quotes from U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. Therefore, the press release clearly goes beyond what is in the indictment. I am generally not a fan of broad speaking indictments or lengthy press releases that announce indictments. But here, as mentioned, the indictment, although speaking, is restrained and well-crafted. The purpose of the relatively brief press release is to send a message that any obstruction of an important ongoing investigation will be swiftly and ruthlessly punished. In this regard, it is important to note that both the alleged false statements and the alleged records destruction occurred in January of this year. To me, this is one of the very few valid reasons for any kind of an extended press release announcing an indictment–that is, to send a message that obstruction of a major ongoing investigation will not be tolerated and that those who engage in it will pay a price. Press reports indicate that Stover was arrested at his home. This was unfortunate and unfair. Stover is innocent until proven guilty and, as Stover's Conditions of Pretrial Release indicate, nobody considers him a flight risk or danger to the community. He was released on an unsecured $10,000.00 bond.
(wisenberg)
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