You previously read here about the Southern District of New York's (SDNY) request for an extension to file their petition for a writ of certiorari on the insider trading decision in the Newman/Chiasson case. That decision overturned the convictions of Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson. SDNY has prosecuted nearly 100 people on their insider trading crackdown known as Operation Perfect Hedge ... most have pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial. The Newman decision to toss two of those convictions was a tough blow to prosecutors but many feel it helped define the law.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is now considering taking the case to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and faced a deadline to file his case in early July. Even after all of the prosecutions and appeals, he asked for more time to prepare his case for SCOTUS ... but he failed to notify the defendants of his request. Instead, it was approved by Justice Ginsburg on June 16. It was not until some days later that a reporter from Reuters contacted the defendants' lawyers that they knew of the request for the extension. Newman's attorney Stephen Fishbein then sent a letter on June 19 to ask the SCOTUS Clerk 'What's up?' That letter was finally posted to the docket this week.
As a follow up to the earlier post on this, thought I would share the letter ... enjoy!
