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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 252 Filed 04/27/21 Page4of9
See United States v. Avenatti, No. (S1) 19-CR-373 (PGG), 2020 WL 86768, at *6 (S.D.N.Y.
Jan. 6, 2020). But Rule 17(c) subpoenas are not tools of discovery. Nixon, 418 US. at 698;
Wey, 252 F. Supp. 3d at 253. On the specificity prong alone, Requests 1 through 5 fail to satisfy
the Nixon standard.
Requests 1 and 2 fail for the separate reason that, if Maxwell is entitled to the materials
sought at all, they should come from the Government. Requests 1, 2, and 8 all seek documents
that are procurable from the Government. As noted above, Requests 1 and 2 seek
communications between BSF and government officials regarding a certain subject, from 2015
to the date of the subpoena. Request 8, meanwhile, refers to a specific grand jury subpoena that
the Government issued to BSF. As to all of these requests, Maxwell asserts that the Rule 17(c)
subpoena is necessary to fix what she deems to be the Government’s failure to comply with its
discovery obligations. Among the principles set forth in Nixon is that the materials must not be
otherwise procurable reasonably in advance of trial by exercise of due diligence. Nixon, 418
U.S. at 699. These three requests target information that reasonably can be expected to be in the
hands of the Government. To the extent that Maxwell has a basis to argue that the Government
has not met its discovery obligations, the Rule 17(c) subpoena process is not the proper
mechanism for pursuing that. Rather, with notice to the Government so that the issue is properly
joined, Maxwell must make some showing of that failure and seek specific and appropriate relief
from this Court.
Requests 6 and 7 seek contingency fee agreements or engagement letters between BSF
and two of its clients who are alleged victims. Maxwell has failed to make the required showing
under Nixon that these records would be relevant or admissible for purposes of her Rule 17(c)
application. The only plausible theory of relevance set forth in Maxwell’s papers is that these
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00004042.jpg |
| File Size | 713.0 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.6% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,069 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:43:38.570656 |