The warrant authorizes the search. It does not suspend your rights during one. A federal search warrant is a court order, issued by a magistrate or district court judge upon a showing of probable…
The arrest is not the investigation. It is the investigation's visible surface. Most of what constitutes a federal criminal investigation is invisible to the person being investigated. Surveillance, document review, witness interviews, grand jury…
The knock arrived before any letter, any subpoena, any formal notice that you were being looked at. That sequence is deliberate. FBI agents conduct doorstep interviews as a standard investigative technique, and the timing…
Miranda warnings are required in a specific and narrow set of circumstances. The FBI interview at your door almost certainly does not qualify. The rule established in Miranda v. Arizona in 1966 requires law…
The instrument looks the same. The proceeding it serves determines everything else. A subpoena is a court order commanding appearance, production, or both. The form of the document does not change substantially depending on…
The rights exist. The question is whether they will be exercised before the window to exercise them closes. A Department of Justice target letter arrives with an implicit invitation to misunderstand it. The language…
The letter is the answer to a question the investigation was already asking. The better question is whether the investigation itself could have been redirected before it reached that point. Pre-indictment intervention is a…
The agreement restricts certain uses. It does not eliminate them. The question is among the most important ones a person can ask before entering a proffer session, and it is among the questions most…
Your lawyer will be present. They will be outside the room. Federal law and long-standing practice prohibit counsel from accompanying a witness into the federal grand jury room during testimony. The rule is not…
Before an indictment, the answer is generally yes. After one, the conditions change substantially. The distinction between pre-indictment and post-indictment travel is the central organizing principle of any answer to this question, and it…