DOJ-OGR-00004802.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document307 Filed 06/25/21 Page18 of 21
prosecutors. As the Court has explained above, this is consistent with the Second Circuit’s
statement that a protective order “provides no guarantee that [evidence] will not somehow find
its way into the government’s hands for use in a subsequent criminal prosecution.” Andover, 876
F.2d at 1083. Judge McMahon further reasoned that Maxwell could only have reasonably relied
on the protective order insofar as it prohibited BSF from fomenting an investigation against her
with confidential documents. If Judge McMahon had known of the 2016 meeting, it is
arguable—albeit far from certain—that she might have instead concluded that BSF breached
Maxwell’s reasonable reliance interests.
But Judge McMahon also held that the Government had shown extraordinary
circumstances justifying ex parte modification of the protective order. She observed that
modification of the protective order would serve a “significant public interest” and that the
Government had demonstrated good cause to obtain the sought materials through a grand jury
subpoena without alerting potential targets of its criminal investigation. Extraordinary
circumstances or compelling need provide a sufficient, independent basis to modify a protective
order under Martindell notwithstanding the parties’ reasonable reliance on that order. See
Minpeco S.A. v. Conticommodity Servs., Inc., 832 F.2d 739, 742 (2d Cir. 1987) (citing
Martindell, 594 F.2d at 296). Thus, even assuming that the Government should have told Judge
McMahon about communications with BSF in 2016, and even assuming that information was
material to her analysis of Maxwell’s reasonable reliance on the protective order, Judge
McMahon would still have granted the Government’s application. Because the Government’s
alleged misrepresentation was not necessary to Judge McMahon’s ruling, it cannot support
suppression under Franks.
18
DOJ-OGR-00004802
Extracted Information
Dates
Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00004802.jpg |
| File Size | 693.9 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.5% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 1,952 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:53:07.239600 |