United States v. Ghavami

882 F. Supp. 2d 532, 2012 WL 2090800, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80593
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJune 5, 2012
DocketNo. 10 Cr. 1217(KMW)(JCF)
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 882 F. Supp. 2d 532 (United States v. Ghavami) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Ghavami, 882 F. Supp. 2d 532, 2012 WL 2090800, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80593 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JAMES C. FRANCIS IV, United States Magistrate Judge.

This criminal proceeding presents, among other issues, the question of whether, and under what circumstances, the attorney-client privilege and work product protection are forfeited1 when otherwise privileged communications are disclosed by an unwitting declarant to someone acting as a government cooperator. It also raises the problem of whether the privilege of a non-party may be breached in order to satisfy the government’s obligation to disclose to a criminal defendant evidence that casts doubt on the credibility of a government witness.

The defendants, Peter Ghavami, Gary Heinz, and Michael Welty, are charged with rigging bids for investment instruments known as guaranteed investment contracts, or “GICs,” which are sold by financial institutions to the issuers of municipal bonds. The charges include conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Count One of the Superseding Indictment); conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 (Counts Two and Four); and wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Counts Three and Five).2 During the course of its investigation, the government accumulated vast quantities of information, and it has produced to the defendants in discovery more than 600,000 audio files, including recorded telephone conversations from trading desks and consensual recordings. (Letter of Kalina M. Tulley, Neville S. Hedley, and Jennifer M. Dixton' dated Oct. 7, 2011, at 3). In some instances, the government’s “taint team” redacted material from the recordings based on claims of attorney-client privilege and work product protection asserted by third parties before making these recordings available to the [536]*536government’s trial attorneys and to the defendants.

The government now moves for an order overruling claims of privilege or work product with respect to 27 consensual recordings so that it may produce unredacted versions of those recordings to its trial team and to the defendants. The government also seeks an order permitting disclosure of previously redacted portions of ten documents memorializing witness interviews. Initially, eight individuals or entities who have asserted the attorney-client privilege or work product protection (the “claimants”) opposed the government’s applications and sought to “claw back” the communications at issue. One of those entities, Privilege Claimant 7., has entered into a consent order with the government, mooting the government’s motion with respect to that claimant.

At a series of hearings on June 4, 2012,1 considered the arguments of the government and each of the privilege claimants and issued oral rulings to be followed by a written decision. This is that decision. I will begin by outlining the general principles governing privilege and work product and then will apply those principles to the circumstances of each privilege claimant.

Legal Framework

A. Attorney-Client Privilege

The attorney-client privilege protects from disclosure “(1) a communication between client and counsel that (2) was intended to be and was in fact kept confidential, and (3) was made for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice.” In re County of Erie, 473 F.3d 413, 419 (2d Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Construction Products Research, Inc., 73 F.3d 464, 473 (2d Cir.1996)); accord United States v. Mejia, 655 F.3d 126, 132 (2d Cir.2011); National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild v. United States Department of Homeland Security, 842 F.Supp.2d 720, 727-28 (S.D.N.Y.2012).3 The privilege protects not only the advice of the attorney to the client, but also the information communicated by the client that provides a basis for giving advice. See Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383, 390, 101 S.Ct. 677, 66 L.Ed.2d 584 (1981); In re Six Grand Jury Witnesses, 979 F.2d 939, 943-44 (2d Cir.1992); Oak-Jin Oh v. Sim & Park, LLP, No. 12 MC 66, 2012 WL 1193755, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. April 10, 2012). “It is axiomatic that the burden is on a party claiming the protection of a privilege to establish those facts that are the essential elements of the privileged relationship, a burden not discharged by mere conclusory or ipse dixit assertions.” In re Grand Jury Subpoena Dated Jan. 4, 1984, 750 F.2d 223, 224-25 (2d Cir.1984) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted); accord von Bulow by Auersperg v. von Bulow, 811 F.2d 136, 144 (2d Cir.1987); Schanfield v. Sojitz Corp. of America, 258 F.R.D. 211, 214 (S.D.N.Y.2009).

[537]*5371. Forfeiture

It is well-established that voluntary disclosure of confidential material to a third party generally results in forfeiture of any applicable attorney-client privilege. See Mejia, 655 F.3d at 134; United States v. Jacobs, 117 F.3d 82, 91 (2d Cir.1997); Ravenell v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., No. 08 CV 2113, 2012 WL 1150450, at *2 (E.D.N.Y. April 5, 2012). There are two circumstances, however, where the privilege is preserved notwithstanding such a disclosure. First, disclosure does not create a waiver when the third party is a necessary conduit of information between attorney and client. The Second Circuit has described this principle as follows:

Under certain circumstances, [ ] the privilege for communication with attorneys can extend to shield communications to others when the purpose of the communication is to assist the attorney in rendering advice to the client. Thus, in [United States v. Kovel, 296 F.2d 918 (2d Cir.1961) ], we recognized that the privilege would extend to communications by an attorney’s client to an accountant hired by the attorney to assist the attorney in understanding the client’s financial information. Recognizing that the privilege would surely apply where a client who spoke only a foreign language furnished his confidential information to an interpreter employed by the attorney to translate for the attorney’s benefit, Judge Friendly observed that accounting concepts can be as incomprehensible as a foreign language to attorneys. “Hence the presence of an accountant ... while the client is relating a complicated tax story to the lawyer, ought not destroy the privilege ....” Id. at 922.

United States v. Adlman, 68 F.3d 1495, 1499 (2d Cir.1995) (alterations in original); see also Urban Box Office Network, Inc. v. Interfase Managers, L.P., No. 01 Civ. 8854, 2006 WL 1004472, at *3 (S.D.N.Y.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
882 F. Supp. 2d 532, 2012 WL 2090800, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-ghavami-nysd-2012.