Former Prosecutors Charge DOJ With Withholding Evidence

In a Supreme Court brief filed last week, 20 former Justice Department officials urged the Court to hear an appeal in a case in which they characterized the DOJ’s conviction as a “victory rather than justice.” Former officials – including Michael B. Mukasey, attorney general in the Bush administration, and Seth P. Waxman, solicitor general for the Clinton administration – signed the brief. They claim that federal prosecutors violated the Constitution by failing to turn over evidence about a key witness. The case, Georgiou v. United States, concerns George Georgiou, convicted in 2010 of securities fraud and related crimes. Georgiou’s appeal says favorable evidence was withheld. Neal K. Katyal, Georgiou’s lawyer and former acting solicitor general for the Obama administration, called the group represented in the filing the “collective brain trust of the last several administrations.”