White Collar Roundup - September 2011

Shhhhh! It's a Secret.

In affirming bribery and fraud convictions, the 3d U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals discussed the practice of the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey of placing language on grand-jury subpoenas to maintain their confidentiality. That language suggests that disclosure of the subpoena could obstruct justice and requests that no such disclosure occur. Although not finding that these nondisclosure requests constituted prosecutorial misconduct by preventing defendants from access to witnesses, the court noted that the "practice of placing its non-disclosure request on all grand jury subpoenas is 'not a good policy' and discourage[d] that practice in the future."