Foxcast Legal Listening

Episode 47

Fireside Chat With Bill Baroni and Jesse Eisinger

Recorded at our 2024 White-Collar Symposium held in Philadelphia last month, this special episode dives into the landscape of white-collar criminal prosecution from the perspectives of Bill Baroni and Jesse Eisinger. Both former podcast guests, Bill and Jesse provide Matt Adams with insight into their personal experiences with the presumption of innocence. They also share their views on how politics does — and does not — influence cases pursued by the Department of Justice. Bill is the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who was indicted and served prison time in connection with the infamous Bridgegate scandal before his conviction was unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Jesse, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is the author of The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives, which explores the DOJ’s prosecutorial approach from the early 2000s Enron era into the Great Recession and the collapse of the financial markets.

Episode 46

America’s Incarceration Industry: Exposing Private Prisons

Peer into the world of prison profiteers with Shane Bauer. Shane’s name may sound familiar. In 2009, he and two friends were hiking near the Iraq-Iran border when they were arrested by Iranian authorities, accused of espionage and imprisoned for more than two years. Extensive international pressure and diplomatic efforts ultimately secured their release. An American journalist and author, Shane decided to dive deeper into the private U.S. prison system after his return to America. Working as an undercover guard in a private Louisiana prison, Shane exposed its conditions and practices in his award-winning book, American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment. He and host Matt Adams engage in a perspective-shifting conversation on the origins of America’s private prison system, which accelerated in the South after the Civil War. They also discuss the impact of Shane’s book on the industry, which pivoted into immigration detention during the Trump administration.

Episode 45

The Grit, Grace and Gift of Second Chances

What’s it like when the FBI knocks at your door? Justin Paperny shares his journey from that fateful day in April 2005 to his 18-month sentence in federal prison as a convicted felon and an encounter with a fellow incarcerated person that changed the trajectory of his life. Justin joins host Matt Adams for an episode detailing how that unexpected friendship gave him a chance to forge a new a career out of a mistake. Justin is the founder of White Collar Advice, a business that helps white-collar defendants through every stage of the judicial process. You’ll be captivated listening to how Justin is turning his story of redemption into a tangible way to help others.

Is the IRS prepping a legal stew for business that filed for Employee Retention Credit (ERC) relief? Host Matt Adams invites Fox Rothschild partner Elizabeth Blickley into the proverbial kitchen for this episode. They discuss where the program currently stands and how, nearly a year to the day since the ERC moratorium was put in place by the IRS, some companies’ relief claims are being put on the backburner by IRS bureaucracy. Get a refresher on recent ERC developments, including court case outcomes, the reopened IRS ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program, and what to do if your business receives an IRS recapture letter. You’ll also hear predictions on pending ERC-related Congressional bills and how the IRS may be baking up lawsuits for companies that filed for ERC relief.

From circuit courts to the Supreme Court, rulings from appellate courts have turned some tried-and-true principles of law on their head in 2024. How have the decisions affected the practice of white-collar criminal defense law? Morgan McCall Reece, a former state and federal prosecutor who recently joined Fox Rothschild, digs into these cases with host Matt Adams. Listen as Morgan offers a valuable insider perspective on how appellate courts are reshaping the law, including the implications for sentencing guidelines, geofencing and agency deference. The information in this podcast is intended to inform firm clients and friends about legal developments, including the decisions of courts and administrative bodies. Nothing in this podcast should be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Readers should not act upon the information contained in this podcast without seeking the advice of legal counsel. Views expressed are those of the participants and not necessarily this law firm or its clients. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Episode 42

AI in Criminal Justice: Opportunity or Opportunity for Misuse?

Can artificial intelligence be a positive, productive tool in criminal justice or are its flaws and the opportunity for misuse too great? Host Matt Adams covers these issues and more with Pramod Kunju, a Data Analytics & AI entrepreneur with a master’s degree in criminal justice who wrote the book, "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Criminal Justice: A Primer on Implications, Ethics, Policy.” The discussion ranges from the use and potential use of AI in policing, prosecution and corrections, to the consequences of bias in AI and the need to correct it. You won’t want to miss this thought-provoking episode.

Episode 41

The Dynamics of Decision-Making: Psychology and the Criminal Justice System

Human errors can irrevocably alter the course of someone’s life in the criminal justice system. In a fascinating follow-up to Episode 40 on the role of pseudoscience in the courtroom, Dan Simon joins host Matt Adams to dissect Dan’s book, In Doubt: The Psychology of the Criminal Process. Dan, who is also the Richard and Maria Crutcher Professor of Law and Psychology at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, digs into the inherent role of psychology and cognitive science throughout the criminal justice process. Matt and Dan explore how spontaneous and induced errors impact and influence criminal investigations. Dan offers a scientific perspective on how to improve the system to make it more accurate and fair. He also explains why his proposals would benefit law enforcement and the accused. And lastly, Dan takes aim at the interrogation process and the adversarial legal system in the United States and the structural role both play in reaching accurate outcomes in a case.

Episode 40

Debunking Courtroom Pseudoscience: A Conversation With the Innocence Project's Chris Fabricant

It’s a sense of outrage that gets him out of bed every morning, says M. Chris Fabricant, Director of Strategic Litigation at the Innocence Project. Approximately 2.3 million people are incarcerated at any given time in the United States. Estimates put the number of wrongfully convicted at up to 5%, meaning tens of thousands of innocent people are behind bars for crimes they did not commit but were convicted of, often based on pseudoscience. Chris, the author of Junk Science in the American Criminal Justice System, joins host Matt Adams to explain the history and evolution of forensic science. Emerging as a “field” in the latter half of the 20th century, forensic science was often developed without employing the scientific method. Bite marks and blood spatter have since been accepted as “evidence” by the courts and the media. The field also has underpinnings in systemic racial, social and economic justice issues that continue to impact convictions today. Chris and Matt scientifically debunk certain elements of the field and share with listeners how they can support the critical mission of the Innocence Project.

Episode 39

Unthreading the Silk Road: A Conversation With Author Nick Bilton

A marketplace of drugs, guns and murder for hire. Journalist and author Nick Bilton explored the illicit web-based market the Silk Road in his page-turner, American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road. In this engaging episode, he joins host Matt Adams to dig into how he conceptualized, researched and wrote this book. They also forecast where internet-based crimes are potentially headed thanks to artificial intelligence. Nick and Matt’s conversation takes listeners back in time to the early 2000s—the early days of internet-based crime—and provides a legal and practical perspective on how federal agencies altered their tried-and-true processes to confront and catch criminals committing crimes via the web. The episode also explores how the acceptance of responsibility—or lack thereof—by a defendant can affect sentencing decisions.