Arent Fox Partner Peter Zeidenberg Urges Proportionality from the Justice Department

Arent Fox White Collar & Investigations partner Peter R. Zeidenberg wrote an article published in Law360 about a case recently argued before the United States Supreme Court that involves a Sarbanes Oxley statute being used to prosecute a commercial fisherman.

Mr. Zeidenberg focused on questions asked by Supreme Court justices during oral argument in Yates v. United States to illustrate how out of touch they appear to be with the routine workings of white collar cases across the country. In response to a fisherman being prosecuted with a Sarbanes-Oxley provision for tossing undersized grouper overboard after being instructed by a state official to produce the suspect fish, “The justices expressed shock to learn that the alleged conduct could lead to a 20-year prison sentence. ‘This captain is throwing a fish overboard … He could have gotten 20 years. What kind of sensible prosecution is that?’”

In response, Mr. Zeidenberg concludes: “Common sense, proportionality and good judgment are all too often in distressingly short supply at the DOJ.”

To read the Law360 article, click here.