"Public Corruption"

Published on: April 5, 2012

Phone Calls From Africa To Kentucky Cannot Be Prosecuted In Virginia, Even If Virginia Is Where You Thought About The Fraud You’d Do On The Phone Call

Former Congressman William Jefferson, a son of New Orleans, will perhaps be best known for having been found with cash – cold, hard, cash – in his freezer.

He was convicted in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia of eleven charges in connection with a bribery scheme involving his role as a member of Congress and officials in Africa. In a major coup for his lawyer, he was not convicted of the offense involving the cash found in his freezer.

He was convicted, alas. And, the Fourth Circuit affirmed 10 of his 11 counts of conviction in United States v. Jefferson.

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Published on: October 21, 2011

What’s Fair For the Goose Is Maybe Not The Same For the Gander; Immunity Orders And The Ninth Circuit

By Matt Kaiser

It’s good to be king.

The government, in a criminal investigation, can issue a grand jury subpoena to collect evidence and put witnesses under oath. It can execute search warrants to go into a home or business and take documents. It can cut deals with people it thinks are involved in a criminal enterprise, so that they’ll spend less time – or no time – in prison if they turn in someone else.

Someone fending off a government investigated can’t do any of this.

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Published on: September 29, 2011

Bribery in New Jersey. No, really.

By Matt Kaiser

Sometimes, the cooperating witness in a case seems a little shadier than the guy who got caught.

Herman Friedman owned an apartment building in West New York, New Jersey. He rented out 16 apartments. One day, a building inspector visited Mr. Friedman’s property. He noticed that the building had only 15 legal units – not 16. The inspector issued a Notice of Violation.

To try to sort this out, Mr. Friedman went to meet with a Construction Code Official, Franco Zanardelli. Perhaps like many New Jersey zoning officials, Mr. Zanardelli was working for the FBI. He was trying to get a sentence reduction under 5K1.1 after he was caught taking bribes in a prior investigation.

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