DOJ-OGR-00020816.jpg

Case 22-1426, Document “Tatas | 3475900, Page198 of 208 | A194 | Ill. Counts five and six are not time-barred For most non-capital offenses, the statute of limitations under federal law is five years. 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a). Congress has enacted longer limitations periods for certain crimes, in particular for “offense[s] involving the sexual or physical abuse, or kidnapping” of a minor in 18 U.S.C. § 3283. Prior to 2003, the limitations period in § 3283 lasted until the victim reached the age of 25, and then Congress extended the limitations period to the life of the victim with the PROTECT Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-21, 117 Stat 60. In 2006, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 3299, which eliminated the statute of limitations for the sex trafficking of minors in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 and for some other sex crimes. See 18 U.S.C. § 3299 (“Notwithstanding any other law, an indictment may be found or an information instituted at any time without limitation for any offense under . . . section 1591.”). In her previous motion, Maxwell argued that the Mann Act charges against her in the indictment were time-barred on the grounds that the extended limitations period § 3283 was not applicable. The Court denied that motion in its April 16, 2021 Opinion & Order. Maxwell, 2021 WL 1518675, at *5. Maxwell now argues that the new charges the Government has brought against her in the S2 indictment, Sex Trafficking Conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371) and Sex Trafficking (18 U.S.C. § 1591), are time-barred as well because § 3283 does not apply to those offenses either. She renews her contention from her previous motion that the limitations period in § 3283 only applies to offenses which “necessarily entail” the sexual abuse of a minor and argues that a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1591 does not. Thus, according to Maxwell’s reasoning, the general five-year statute of limitations period in 18 U.S.C. § 3282(a) applies to the sex trafficking counts and, because the alleged conduct occurred from 2001 to 2004, the Government 1s now time-barred for prosecuting her for these offenses. DOJ-OGR-00020816