Lawyers Win Dismissal of Stock Charges Because of Prosecutor Misconduct
A federal appeals court has affirmed dismissal of stock fraud charges against two lawyers because a prosecutor withheld evidence favorable to the defense.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the lawyers, Daniel Chapman and Sean Flanagan, should not be retried because of the misconduct, the National Law Journal reports.
“This is prosecutorial misconduct in its highest form; conduct in flagrant disregard of the United States Constitution; and conduct which should be deterred by the strongest sanction available,” Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote for the court.
The opinion said a federal prosecutor in Las Vegas withheld 650 pages of documents, including rap sheets, plea agreements and cooperation agreements with witnesses. The National Law Journal said the prosecutor was identified in court documents as Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Greg Damm.
Chapman and Flanagan had been charged along with three other defendants in a complex securities scheme involving control and manipulation of stock through straw officers and shareholders, the NLJ story says. The two lawyers were accused of helping launder $12 million in profits.
Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for Nevada U.S. Attorney Greg Brower, told the NLJ that her office reported to the matter to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, but it found no intentional misconduct.
