In a motion arguing he and his AUSAs should not be sanctioned, US Attorney for Chicago Andrew Boutros made a substantive false claim. I can’t prove he knowingly lied; that would require the kind of investigation Boutros insists is not warranted. But I can show his false claim happens to be among the core disputes in the Broadview 6 case.
The legal argument in this filing (inapt invocation of Trump v. US notwithstanding) might be sound. But it’ll only work if Judge April Perry buys his explanation for why his AUSAs handed her grand jury transcripts that kept the misconduct Sheri Mecklenburg engaged in hidden behind redactions. The excuse is that William Hogan, a guy with past ethical accusations that Boutros chose not to mention in his filing, was just following orders — April Perry’s orders — to provide the grand jury transcripts pertaining to how they charged a conspiracy.
Boutros explains it this way:
The only potentially applicable order in this case [for which prosecutors could be held in contempt] is this Court’s order regarding the grand jury transcripts. Yet former Defendants made a very “narrow” request for only those portions of the grand jury transcripts “pertaining to how the 18 U.S.C. § 372 conspiracy charge was explained to the Grand Jury” and any “related exchanges.” R. 118 at 1. This Court ordered the Government to provide in...
The Essential Services Commission has cancelled the Victorian Energy Upgrades (VEU) accreditation of two businesses for allegedly providing false information about their energy efficiency projects...