White collar crime lawyers know that the premier white collar crime prosecutors are in USAO SDNY. That is the office that investigated and prosecuted Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, to a plea and has obtained two immunity agreements -- one for David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, and for Allen Weisselberg, CFO of the Trump organization. Those developments appear to bring great risk to Trump as shown in these articles.
The reason I post them here is that they do inform readers who may not be that familiar with USAO SDNY (often referred to as the "Southern District") of its role in the federal white collar crime universe. All who practice in this area know that the prosecution teams mounted by the "Southern District are formidable. Wikipedia, here, notes that the Southern District is often referred to as the "Sovereign District of New York" because "of the office's resources, pursuit of high-profile cases, independence from presidential administrations and transitions, and tenacity."
The reason I post them here is that they do inform readers who may not be that familiar with USAO SDNY (often referred to as the "Southern District") of its role in the federal white collar crime universe. All who practice in this area know that the prosecution teams mounted by the "Southern District are formidable. Wikipedia, here, notes that the Southern District is often referred to as the "Sovereign District of New York" because "of the office's resources, pursuit of high-profile cases, independence from presidential administrations and transitions, and tenacity."
First, there is this piece by Noah Feldman, a Harvard Law Professor: The Prosecutors Who Have Declared War on the President (Bloomberg Opinion 8/26/18), here.
Some excerpts:
Once the Southern District gets its jaws onto a string of crimes, it doesn’t let go.
Weisselberg, as part of his deal, will likely be required to provide information on all criminal activity he knows about.
Trump is now facing a two-front war against the Justice Department. The team led by special counsel Robert Mueller is supposed to focus on Russian interference in the 2016 election. But the Southern District can investigate any aspect of Trump’s behavior that took place in its jurisdiction, at any time.
And unlike Mueller, who could in principle be fired, the Southern District isn’t one man; it’s a whole office of career lawyers. It can’t be fired. Even if Robert Khuzami, the acting U.S. attorney in this case, were removed, no new U.S. attorney could realistically call off the prosecutors.
The Cohen conviction makes any such Southern District investigation normal and logical, not a “witch hunt.”
Consider that the prosecutors now have strong evidence that the Trump Organization was part of a conspiracy to commit campaign-finance violations. The repayment of Cohen by the Trump Organization makes the company fair game.
In any ordinary criminal investigation by the Southern District, evidence that a corporation has been used as part of a criminal conspiracy, with the knowledge and involvement of its owner and CFO, would naturally trigger further digging. Was this the first time the Trump Organization ever acted criminally? The Southern District prosecutors are going to want to know the answer. And they’re going to find out.
The upshot is that Trump is vulnerable to further revelations of criminal behavior. Some will no doubt have nothing to do with Russia. Others, such as money laundering, may turn up connections to Russians.
The digging by the Southern District should be a clue to Trump that, when he leaves office, an indictment may be waiting. That would make it hard for him to do his job as president. It would also give him an incentive to resign and be pardoned by Mike Pence.
And if the Southern District wanted to go after Trump before that, it has tools aplenty at its disposal. It doesn’t seem inconceivable that the office could seek to indict the Trump Organization itself and seize assets derived from criminal activity. Or it could use the RICO statute to get a court to deem the organization a criminal enterprise.
When it comes to taking on the president, the Southern District has already shown that it’s not afraid.Here is an article by curdudgeon and Trump apologizer, Alan Dershowitz: Dershowitz says federal probe in New York, not Mueller, is ‘greatest threat’ to Trump (WAPO 8/26/18), here.
Excerpts:
Dershowitz, an informal Trump adviser, said in an appearance on ABC News’s “This Week” that the expanding probe by prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York could spell the greatest peril for Trump because of the lack of constitutional protections for the president at that level.
“I think he has constitutional defenses to the investigation being conducted by Mueller,” Dershowitz said. “But there are no constitutional defenses to what the Southern District is investigating. So, I think the Southern District is the greatest threat.”
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