Tag: Lindsey Manufacturing

FCPA Bombshell: The Lindsey-Lee Order

December 1st, 2011

"In this Court’s experience, almost all of the prosecutors in the Office of the United States Attorney for this district consistently display admirable professionalism, integrity and fairness.

So it is with deep regret that this Court is compelled to find that the Government team allowed a key FBI agent to testify untruthfully before the grand jury, inserted material falsehoods into affidavits submitted to magistrate judges in support of applications for search warrants and seizure warrants, improperly reviewed e-mail communications between one Defendant and her lawyer, recklessly failed to comply with its discovery obligations, posed questions to certain witnesses in violation of the Court’s rulings, engaged in questionable behavior during closing argument and even made misrepresentations to the Court."

"Consequently, the Court throws out the convictions of Defendants Lindsey Manufacturing Company, Keith E. Lindsey and Steve K. Lee and dismisses the First Superseding Indictment."

And here it is: Judge Matz's Order Throwing Out the Convictions of Lindsey Manufacturing Company, Keith E. Lindsey and Steve K. Lee.

(wisenberg)
Judge Matz Will Throw Out Lindsey-Lee FCPA Convictions Due To Government Misconduct

November 30th, 2011

Maybe FCPA isn't such a slam dunk after all if you take the government to trial. Bloomberg's Businessweek has the story here. The announcement was made in open court yesterday. A written opinion is due today. The Court is apparently relying on its supervisory power, so we can expect a vigorous government appeal. The ruling covers Defendants Lindsey Manufacturing, Keith Lindsey, and Steve Lee.

(wisenberg)
Lindsey Hearing And Probable Ruling This Tuesday

November 25th, 2011

"I don't know if there was a stench that developed in this case, but there was a bad odor at times, and so the issue that I'm inviting both sides to address is…whether either through a finding of due process violations or in the exercise of my supervisory power…something akin to the whole being greater than the sum of its parts justifies throwing out this conviction, because a lot of the parts that led up to this conviction are extremely troublesome." U.S. District Court Judge Howard Matz during 6-27-11 post-trial hearing.

The briefs are in and the hearing is set for this Tuesday at 10:00AM in the Lindsey Manufacturing FCPA prosecution. At issue is the Lindsey-Lee Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the Indictment With Prejudice Due to Repeated and Intentional Government Misconduct. A potential bad sign for the Government, as if it needed another one, is the Court's November 16th Order requiring the U.S. Attorney's Office to file certain Government and Court exhibits in the record by November 18. The Court had already publicly criticized the Government for its use and handling of some or all of these exhibits. The Government filed the exhibits in question on November 17, and they are now available through PACER.

Judge Matz has previously characterized the Government's investigation and prosecution of the case as "extraordinarily sloppy at best." He was apparently so troubled by the Government's actions that he generated and kept a post note during trial in order to keep track of them.

(wisenberg)
Lindsey FCPA Defendants File Reply Brief

September 27th, 2011

The Lindsey Manufacturing Reply Brief was filed Sunday night by Defendants Lindsey Manufacturing Company, Keith E. Lindsey, and Steve K, Lee. This is a reply to the Government's Opposition to Defendants' Supplemental Brief in Support of Their Motion to Dismiss the Indictment With Prejudice Due to Repeated and Intentional Government Misconduct. The case is in front of U.S. District Judge Howard Matz in the Central District of California.

(Wisenberg)
The Wrong Judge and the Lindsey FCPA Trial Bombshell

June 29th, 2011

If I were a federal prosecutor in the Central District of California I would not want to tick off Judge Howard Matz. But that's just what federal prosecutors in the Lindsey Manufacturing FCPA case have done. Matz is an exceptionally thoughtful and intelligent jurist. He is also a former AUSA whose son is a Central District prosecutor. So Matz knows when things aren't right. And things aren't right in the Lindsey Manufacturing case. On Monday, during post-verdict proceedings, AUSA Doug Miller revealed that the government had inadvertently violated a court order by failing to turn over portions of FBI Special Agent Susan Guernsey's grand jury testimony to the defense. Matz was shocked, according to this excellent LAW360 story (subscription required) by Zach Winnick. "I shouldn't be shocked, because it's not the first time you and your colleagues have trailed into court with excuses and benign mea culpas." Ouch.

It is clear from Winnick's piece that Matz has long been troubled with various aspects of the government's presentation. Now Matz is ordering additional briefing on whether the guilty verdicts should be overturned and the case dismissed. My colleague Ellen Podgor posted here in March on earlier Brady problems encountered by the government. And Winnick reported here in May (in LAW360) on Judge Matz's harsh criticism of some of the government's summary charts. Matz called the charts, "ill-advised, misleading, and shockingly incomplete." Oral arguments on the defense motions to dismiss are set for September 8.

(wisenberg)

Tag: Lindsey Manufacturing

FCPA Bombshell: The Lindsey-Lee Order

Judge Matz Will Throw Out Lindsey-Lee FCPA Convictions Due To Government Misconduct

Lindsey Hearing And Probable Ruling This Tuesday

Lindsey FCPA Defendants File Reply Brief

The Wrong Judge and the Lindsey FCPA Trial Bombshell