Government searches of every smart phone now require a warrant. Any other ruling in Riley v. California, would have voided the United States Constitution, Fourth Amendment’s proscriptions against governmental rummaging through the personal effects of its citizens. In Riley v. California, the Supreme Court ruled that state and federal investigators’ smart phone searches incident to…

One of my recent blogs discussed a new federal court ruling addressing a federal sentencing guideline comment that increases offense level calculations based upon total versus net loss to the government. This decision has enormous implications in the health care fraud field.Many of my clients are the second and third tier employees of a variety…

The federal sentencing guidelines are a complex set of congressional mandates and instructions identifying for federal judges all factors to be considered when sentencing a federally convicted felon to prison. The federal government is one of the largest contractors and employers in the country, engaging in a substantial amount of business that affects all aspects…

Pennsylvania’s Professional Health Monitoring Program (“PHMP”)  is replete with trap doors and fake doorways that effectively extend the probationary period beyond three years.  In reviewing a client’s agreement to extend his PHMP probation for violating the terms thereof, I came across standard paragraph 5.g.  This paragraph is a catchall phrase that c and will extend…

This blog will focus on U.S.S.G. Section 2B1.1(b)(2)(C) as a specific sentencing provision of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. In this age serious identity theft crimes (the Target Store), this one provision can substantially increase a federal sentencing guideline recommendation.A recent case discussing this provision is U.S. v Ballard,, 551 Fed. Appx. 33 (3rd Cir.…