Day 49.1 Melissa Hodgman, Peter Strzok, and Andy McCabe

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Day 48.5 Carmichael and Carpenter

U.S. regulators drop fraud case against Wall Street financier Wey 


(Reuters) - U.S. securities regulators on Friday moved to drop their fraud case against Wall Street financier Benjamin Wey, about a month after prosecutors dropped a related criminal case after a judge threw out some evidence

In a filing in federal court in Manhattan, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said its case relied on the same evidence as the criminal case, and that it believed it would no longer be able to use it.

Prosecutors and the SEC in 2015 accused Wey, the founder of New York Global Group, of making tens of millions of dollars by secretly controlling large blocks of shares through “reverse mergers” between Chinese companies and U.S. shell companies, and selling his shares at artificially high levels.

The SEC also sued Wey’s wife, Michaela Wey, who was not criminally charged.

“Today’s dismissal can only be described as a complete victory for our clients, Benjamin and Michaela Wey,” said David Siegal, a lawyer for the Weys.

SEC spokesman Ryan White declined to comment.

The criminal case against Wey collapsed in June, when U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that a huge cache of materials seized from Wey’s home and offices could not be used because they were obtained with overly broad search warrants that violated Wey’s constitutional rights.

Nathan said the seizure of items such as children’s school records, family photos and X-rays at minimum reflected “grossly negligent or reckless disregard” of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

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CONYERS & SENSENBRENNER Urge AG Sessions To Reconsider DOJ Policies On Asset Forfeiture

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Congressmen Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) sent the following letter to United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions to express concerns and objections to his proposal to expand the Department of Justice’s civil asset forfeiture program. The letter also urges AG Sessions to reconsider his newly-announced policies.

Congressman Conyers: “I am deeply disappointed by the Justice Department’s recent move to reverse its ban on adoptive seizures.  The prior policy, which was instituted in January of 2015, greatly curtailed this practice, which provides financial incentives for law enforcement to seize the property – including the homes – of individuals who may not even be guilty of a crime.  I call on Senator Sessions to withdraw the new policy, which is contrary to the growing bipartisan effort to reform our civil forfeiture laws and practices.  Indeed, the time has come for Congress to enact the DUE PROCESS Act, a bipartisan bill to significantly alter these laws and increase protections for innocent property owners.”

Congressman Sensenbrenner: “Expanding the federal civil asset forfeiture program is a step in the wrong direction and I urge Attorney General Sessions and his Department of Justice to reconsider. I am a supporter of criminal asset forfeiture – the seizure of property after the conviction of crime—but with civil asset forfeiture, law enforcement has a direct economic incentive to take people’s property without ever even charging them with a crime. We need to add more due process to forfeiture proceedings. Expanding forfeiture without increasing protections is, in my view, unconstitutional and wrong.”

Conyers & Sensenbrenner Letter to Attorney General Sessions Re Adoptive Forfeitures 8.4.17 by Beverly Tran on Scribd
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CONYERS Statement On DOJ IG Report On DOJ's Use Of Asset Forfeiture

Washington, D.C. - The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report concerning the Department’s “Oversight of Cash Seizure and Forfeiture Activities.”  The Inspector General analyzed the asset seizure and forfeiture policies, practices and performance management capabilities of the Department as a whole, in addition to examining the forfeiture activities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The review identified weaknesses in the Department’s oversight of asset seizure and forfeiture activities, and specifically found that the Department and its investigative components do not use data “to determine whether seizures benefit criminal investigations or the extent to which they may pose potential risks to civil liberties.” 

In response, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) stated:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“The results of the Inspector General’s report are very troubling.  This report questions the Justice Department’s asset seizure and forfeiture practices, finding that many may not advance or relate to criminal investigations.  The report confirms our fears that our asset forfeiture laws must be updated and reformed, which I have been working with my colleagues, on a bipartisan basis, to accomplish. 

“I have previously cosponsored the Deterring Undue Enforcement by Protecting Rights of Citizens from Excessive Searches and Seizures Act of 2016 (DUE PROCESS Act), and am joining my colleagues Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) in reintroducing today.  This bill is necessary to provide important new protections against the abuse of our civil forfeiture laws, which allow the government to take someone’s property without even filing criminal charges.” 

Review of the Department’s Oversight of Cash Seizure and Forfeiture Activities 2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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