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The ‘Broadview Six’ case was one of the Trump administration’s prominent prosecutions of anti-ICE protesters. Federal prosecutors in Chicago brought felony charges to fanfare, then curiously dropped them, keeping only misdemeanor counts. Now we know why: they engaged in egregious misconduct to obtain the felony indictments, which they then sought to conceal from the judge, who is not amused.

For all subscribers, we discuss that and US Attorney Andrew Boutros, who issued a weird memo promising reform, and the news that his office is apparently running a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, examining whether she lied in a deposition hundreds of miles from Chicago.

For paying subscribers (upgrade your subscription now at serioustrouble.show) this week, there’s also:

* Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s big and unusual win on vindictive prosecution, which is already inspiring the Southern Poverty Law Center.

* A sordid case involving an Eleventh Circuit judge whose sofa cushion required forensic testing after clerks asserted she was noisily carrying on an affair in chambers.

* A free speech win for West Point faculty.

* An interesting new insider trading case involving Polymarket.

* A probably-too-clever motion attacking the “anti-weaponization fund,” and

* More bad news for ex-JP Morgan banker Chirayu Rana.