A N.C. State Professor has launched a site, http://kingsfirstdream.com/, that contains a newly discovered audio recording of a speech by King in Rocky Mount, NC, in which he used the refrain “I have a dream.” Here is the UNC School of Gov… Read More

As a follow up to this post, the Supreme Court has granted review of the question of the scope of the term “official act” in federal bribery law. This is an important question for white collar defense lawyers, particularly those who deal… Read More

In 2014, a federal jury convicted the former mayor of New Orleans (2002-2010) of twenty federal white-collar felonies including bribery, honest service wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and filing false tax returns. (Here’s the… Read More

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell was convicted last year of honest services wire fraud, a vague law that the Supreme Court saved from constitutional challenge by redefining it to outlaw bribery and kickbacks by public officials. Unlike the standard an… Read More

In April 2015, the president created new rules allowing the federal government to freeze the assets of those suspected to be involved in high-level computer hacking. (Executive Order; RT.Com article). On December 31, 2015, the Treasury Department pub… Read More

In the wake of strong criticism of the federal civil asset forfeiture program, the United States Department of Justice has announced that it has ended its so-called “Equitable Sharing” program that allows local police to seize property fr… Read More

In 2014, the federal government took more property from American citizens through asset forfeiture than burglars did. According to the Washington Post (link), the federal government deposited more than $5 billion into their asset forfeiture funds, wh… Read More

You may remember Silk Road, the “deep web” black market website where customers could purchase everything from drugs and guns to the services of hit men. Its founder, known as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” was a 29-year-old from Tex… Read More