The lawyer for accused stock scammer Benjamin Wey argued a hot issue Feb. 17, saying the case should be dismissed because agents held onto seized computer files for over three years—and then launched a second search without a warrant.
David Siegal of Haynes and Boone told Judge Alison Nathan that the evidence against Wey, indicted in 2015 for a fraudulent reverse merger scheme involving Chinese companies, should be suppressed and the case dismissed because the agents violated the Fourth Amendment.
Wey was also sued civilly by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a case that ensnared some former Big Law attorneys.
"What they didn't do was the one thing the law requires them to do, which was to get a fresh warrant," said Siegal, who argues the agents went on a belated "rummaging" expedition to charge his client.
Excerpted from the New York Law Journal. To read the full article, please click here (subscription required).