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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 204 _ Filed 04/16/21 Page 33 of 239
district in which the dismissed charges are initially brought.
However, the law has evolved to the contrary. A plea agreement
binds only the office of the United States Attorney for the district in
which the plea is entered unless it affirmatively appears that the
agreement contemplates a broader restriction.
Annabi, 771 F.2d at 672 (citations omitted). Thus, under Annabi and its progeny, a plea agreement
only binds the U.S. Attorney’s Office that executes the agreement, even if, as here, the agreement
references “the Government” or “the United States” and even if the agreement lacks a provision
that “expressly limits the scope of the agreement to the district” in which the agreement was
entered.”
Confronted with this clear and controlling authority, the defendant’s motion attempts to
limit the rule of Annabi by noting that some decisions applying Annabi concerned plea agreements
that also included express provisions limiting the enforceability of the agreements to the districts
in which they were entered. (Def. Mot. 1 at 22). Essentially, the defendant argues that without an
express provision limiting the scope of the agreement, every plea agreement should be interpreted
to bind the entire federal government. But the law in this Circuit holds the opposite: the
presumption is that a plea agreement in one district does not bind another, absent an affirmative
appearance that the agreement extends more broadly. See Laskow, 688 F. Supp. at 854
(“Defendant’s argument, in effect, is that unless there is an explicit statement to the contrary, it is
presumed that a non-prosecution agreement binds offices of the United States Attorney that are
> The defendant’s motion emphasizes that the Second Circuit has held, as a general matter, that
plea agreements are construed against the Government. (Def. Mot. 1. at 13). That does not carry
the day here, as Annabi provides a specific mode of analysis for determining whether a plea
agreement applies to other districts, and the defendant’s motion fails under Annabi. More broadly,
the authorities the defendant cites for this general principle arise from circumstances in which a
defendant has sought to enforce his own a plea agreement against the Government. (See, e.g., Def.
Mot. 1 at 13 (citing United States v. Feldman, 939 F.3d 182, 189 (2d Cir. 2019) (analyzing claim
by defendant seeking to enforce promises he claimed prosecutors had made to him)). Notably, the
defendant has cited no authority for the proposition that plea agreements are to be construed in
favor of a third party who was not involved in plea negotiations.
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| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00002967.jpg |
| File Size | 877.8 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.7% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,693 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:29:10.338201 |