United States v. Moazzeni

906 F. Supp. 2d 505, 2012 WL 6019101, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171240
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 3, 2012
DocketCase No. 3:12CR45-HEH
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 906 F. Supp. 2d 505 (United States v. Moazzeni) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Moazzeni, 906 F. Supp. 2d 505, 2012 WL 6019101, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171240 (E.D. Va. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(Determination that Certain Communications are not Protected by Attorney-Client or Work Product Privileges)

HENRY E. HUDSON, District Judge.

In this tax evasion and fraud case, the United States has filed a Motion for Determination that Certain Communications are not Protected by Attorney-Client or Work Product Privileges (ECF No. 44). It presents a number of issues about the scope of the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine in the context of alleged crimes committed in the course of a bankruptcy proceeding. The Court conducted an in camera review of 68 documents over which Defendant claimed privilege, and heard argument on November 20, 2012. For the reasons set forth herein, the Court has granted, in part, and denied, in part, [509]*509the United States’ Motion. (Order, November 21, 2012, ECF No. 70.)

I. BACKGROUND

In March 2012, a grand jury returned an eleven-count indictment against Arash Moazzeni (“Moazzeni”) charging him with tax evasion, filing false returns, failing to pay due taxes, bankruptcy fraud, concealing assets in bankruptcy, concealing and transferring property in bankruptcy, and bank fraud. According to the indictment, Arash Moazzeni has evaded payment of taxes since the mid-1990s, often filing delinquent, sometimes false, tax returns while under-withholding income taxes. Allegedly, he continued this pattern during his Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, which began in 2005. At various times throughout his bankruptcy, Moazzeni retained three different bankruptcy lawyers: Shreen Mahmoud (“Mahmoud”); Harry Jernigan (“Jernigan”)1; and, Charles Krumbein (“Krumbein”). He also previously met with attorney Mark Leffler (“Leffler”), who declined representation.

Through his first bankruptcy lawyers— Mahmoud and Jernigan — Moazzeni filed bankruptcy schedules that failed to disclose, among other things, a property in Pendleton County, West Virginia; a camping trailer; and a Wachovia checking account. (Govt’s Mem. Exs. G, I, J.) Although some of these assets were owned in either Moazzeni’s wife’s name or his sister’s name, the Government has adequately established a prima facie case that Moazzeni was using his wife and sister as “straw” owners. (Id. Ex. I.)

According to the Government’s evidence at this point, Moazzeni would later cover his tracks in 2006 when, at his direction, Krumbein accused Mahmoud of neglect in preparing the bankruptcy filings. This insinuates that she — not Moazzeni — knew of these assets but did not identify them in bankruptcy. (See Dec. 2006 Hrg. Tr. at 58:12-18.) In his opening statement at the December 11, 2006 bankruptcy hearing, Krumbein asserted that his “clients got incredibly bad legal advice. Awful, awful, awful, awful, awful legal advice.” (Id. at 11:2-4.) Later, during direct examination of Mahmoud, he asked about her failure to identify the trailer and her understanding of the transfer of the Secretariat Drive residence. (Id. at 58:12-18, 62:17-63:1, 71:19-72:2; Govt’s Mem. Ex. J.) On cross examination, Mahmoud made it clear that she always advised Moazzeni to be candid about his assets and that she never advised him not to list any asset (Id. at 80:3-9, 81:9.) She further testified that Moazzeni never told her about the Wachovia account that was omitted from the schedules. (Id. at 81:7-9.)

Suspecting a fraudulent transfer, creditors filed an adversary proceeding challenging the sale of Moazzeni’s personal residence at 7424 Secretariat Drive to Moazzeni’s sister in 2004. (Govt’s Mem. Ex. E, ECF No. 45-5.) Additionally, they challenged a post-petition lien that his sister had perfected on Moazzeni’s wife’s Bath County, Virginia real estate and a bank account held in Moazzeni’s sister’s name, though his sister voluntarily released any interest in these assets. (Id.) The Bankruptcy Court held a trial to address the transfer of the Secretariat Drive residence. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Douglas O. Tice agreed with the creditors, avoiding the transfer of Moazzeni’s home as fraudulent and entering a judgment against Moazzeni’s sister in the amount of [510]*510$45,000. (Id.) Ultimately, in 2010, Judge Tice dismissed Moazzeni’s bankruptcy without discharge.

During both the bankruptcy proceedings and the grand jury proceedings, Moazzeni denied culpability and blamed all misconduct on his bankruptcy lawyers’ mistakes. For example, concerning Mahmoud and Jernigan, Moazzeni claimed that they advised him not to file amended tax returns to correct certain discrepancies with his bankruptcy schedules. These involved questionable “rental losses” from an allegedly sham partnership jointly owned with his wife and his sister. (Tr. of Rule 2004 Examination of Arash Moazzeni (“2004 Exam”) at 146:7-17, Govt’s Mem. Ex. A, ECF No. 45-1.) Also, in a letter to Judge Tice, Moazzeni placed the blame squarely on Krumbein’s alleged incompetence, calling him “a has-been who never acted as an attorney with our interests in heart and who failed to protect our rights.”

As a result of this testimony, the Government argues that Moazzeni has broadly waived the attorney-client and work-product privileges with respect to Mahmoud, Jernigan, and Krumbein. The Government also argues that the crime-fraud exception vitiates privilege to all attorneys involved, including Leffler. While Moazzeni agrees that he has waived privilege to a degree with respect to Mahmoud and Jernigan, he challenges the scope of that waiver, arguing that it is narrower than the Government contends. He also maintains that he has not waived any privilege with respect to Krumbein, because he merely criticized Krumbein’s work. And with respect to Leffler, Moazzeni disputes any basis to disregard privilege.

The Government’s argument is threefold. First, the Government argues that the privilege does not attach in the first instance to mere information that Moazzeni provided to the attorneys tasked with preparation of tax returns, bankruptcy petitions, and bankruptcy schedules. As the argument goes, this information does not concern legal advice, and because it was used to prepare non-privileged documents, no privilege protects the information.

Second, the Government argues that Moazzeni waived privilege when he blamed his lawyers and asserted good faith reliance on counsel as a defense. Specifically, the Government points to Moazzeni’s testimony during the bankruptcy proceedings in which he indicated that he disclosed certain assets and transactions to his lawyers, but that they advised him not to include those assets in his schedules. The Government also notes that Moazzeni’s request for discharge placed all blame on his previous lawyers, while simultaneously persisting in his claim that his sister was the true owner of his assets. In some cases he accused his lawyers of unethical conduct; in other cases he accused them of incompetence. And by allowing one of his later attorneys (Krumbein) to cross examine a prior attorney (Mahmoud) about the representation, he manifested an intention to waive the privilege. Notably, Krumbein advised Moazzeni during the hearing that the attorney-client privilege would not apply to their discussions if Moazzeni was later charged criminally. Moazzeni would later repeat this pattern of blaming counsel when he voluntarily testified before the grand jury.

Finally, the Government argues that the crime-fraud exception vitiates the privilege altogether.

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906 F. Supp. 2d 505, 2012 WL 6019101, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-moazzeni-vaed-2012.