nat4900
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Here’s an interesting article as to why, attorney-client privilege and the 4th Amendment become irrelevant when the attorney and the client may be involved in ILLEGAL activities.
For New Jersey lawyer Donald Manno, news reports about the Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on the home and offices of President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen brought back “a lot of dark memories.”
In 2008, Manno’s law office was raided by federal investigators pursuing a racketeering case against a suspected mobster who was a client and friend of the lawyer. The FBI copied Manno’s computer hard drives and carted away evidence. Three years later, when New Jersey prosecutors indicted Manno’s client for fraud, money laundering and extortion, they also charged the lawyer.
Only a handful of law firm search warrants have been publicly disclosed. But based on that record, it is safe to say that law firm raids do not bode well for lawyers or their clients.
New York defense lawyer Gerald Lefcourt said warrants against lawyers almost always end in charges, given the high bar the government has to meet to obtain them. Lefcourt represented defendants in a 1990s racketeering conspiracy case in which the FBI raided the law firm Lysaght, Lysaght & Kramer. The law firm’s name partners were eventually convicted at trial.
In one of the few precedential opinions on evidence seized from law firm, a federal judge in Miami refused in 1997 to toss a racketeering case against Washington, D.C., and Miami lawyers whose offices had been raided, concluding that the searches did not violate their constitutional rights. Those lawyers were convicted of money laundering and sentenced to years in prison.
Other cases show lawyers can themselves be the target of government raids. Former prosecutor Peter Hardy, for instance, oversaw the 2004 search of a Pennsylvania firm that marketed a tax evasion scheme. The lawyer who originated the scheme, Bernard Bagdis, was eventually convicted on tax and conspiracy charges.
Law firm raids bode ill for lawyers and their clients -legal experts
For New Jersey lawyer Donald Manno, news reports about the Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on the home and offices of President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen brought back “a lot of dark memories.”
In 2008, Manno’s law office was raided by federal investigators pursuing a racketeering case against a suspected mobster who was a client and friend of the lawyer. The FBI copied Manno’s computer hard drives and carted away evidence. Three years later, when New Jersey prosecutors indicted Manno’s client for fraud, money laundering and extortion, they also charged the lawyer.
Only a handful of law firm search warrants have been publicly disclosed. But based on that record, it is safe to say that law firm raids do not bode well for lawyers or their clients.
New York defense lawyer Gerald Lefcourt said warrants against lawyers almost always end in charges, given the high bar the government has to meet to obtain them. Lefcourt represented defendants in a 1990s racketeering conspiracy case in which the FBI raided the law firm Lysaght, Lysaght & Kramer. The law firm’s name partners were eventually convicted at trial.
In one of the few precedential opinions on evidence seized from law firm, a federal judge in Miami refused in 1997 to toss a racketeering case against Washington, D.C., and Miami lawyers whose offices had been raided, concluding that the searches did not violate their constitutional rights. Those lawyers were convicted of money laundering and sentenced to years in prison.
Other cases show lawyers can themselves be the target of government raids. Former prosecutor Peter Hardy, for instance, oversaw the 2004 search of a Pennsylvania firm that marketed a tax evasion scheme. The lawyer who originated the scheme, Bernard Bagdis, was eventually convicted on tax and conspiracy charges.
Law firm raids bode ill for lawyers and their clients -legal experts
