David Siegal in Law360: Indicted CEO Calls FBI Search Illegal 'Fishing Expedition'

Private equity CEO Benjamin Wey has urged a Manhattan federal judge to toss the government’s indictment alleging securities fraud and money laundering, saying the charges hold no water, and to block evidence obtained from searches that Wey called “unconstitutional.”

The government was overbroad in its 2012 search of Wey’s home and Manhattan office and obtained the search warrants using misleading logic, the New York Global Group chief argued in a motion filed Friday. The Justice Department then waited almost four years to lodge its indictment, which, according to Wey, failed to allege any criminal behavior.

“In short, this was no good faith effort to conduct a targeted investigation of specific wrongdoing, but rather, a fishing expedition, conducted against a man whose successful business the FBI chose not to understand,” Wey said. “And the fishing is still going on to this day” ...

Wey is represented by David M. Siegal, Sarah Jacobson, Joseph Lawlor and Barry F. McNeil of Haynes and Boone LLP.

Excerpted from Law360. To read the full article, please click here (subscription required).