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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 334 Filed 08/13/21 Page8of10
communication of information of any kind.” As a general matter, the use of the terms “all” and
“any” “do not evince specificity.” United States v. Tagliaferro, No. 19-CR-472 (PAC), 2021
WL 980004, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 16, 2021). And while the requested subpoenas are limited to
the period between 2015 and 2021, the timeframe is still overly broad. Here, too, the requests
are precisely the kind of “fishing expedition” that the specificity requirement is designed to
prevent. See Dkt. No. 252, April 27, 2021 Op., at 3-4; Bowman Dairy Co., 341 U.S. at 221.
Indeed, the requests are akin to discovery requests in civil litigation. 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 U.S. at 698; United States v. Wey,
252 F. Supp. 3d 237, 253 (S.D.N.Y. 2017). On the specificity prong alone, Requests 1 through 5
fail to satisfy the Nixon standard. They also fail because there is no plausible theory of relevance
to these requests, and the briefing papers advance no discernible explanation for why these
documents may be relevant at trial. The papers suggest that part of the impetus for the requests
relate to impeachment, but that is insufficient to warrant issuance of a Rule 17(c) subpoena.
Requests 6 and 7 seek “any” notes, reports, records or summaries reflecting any meetings
or communications between Subpoena Recipient-3 and Subpoena Recipient-4 and certain
victims or their counsel. These requests are plainly a “fishing expedition,” and they fail on that
basis. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 698. In any event, and more generally, the requests do not satisfy
Nixon’s relevance requirement. Once again, the requests are sought for mere impeachment
purposes, and to the extent that the materials may become relevant, they would only do so after
the witness(es) are called to testify. A pre-trial Rule 17(c) subpoena is not the proper mechanism
for procuring such impeachment materials. Skelos, 2018 WL 2254538, at *2. Maxwell presents
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Document Details
| Filename | DOJ-OGR-00005037.jpg |
| File Size | 728.9 KB |
| OCR Confidence | 94.6% |
| Has Readable Text | Yes |
| Text Length | 2,131 characters |
| Indexed | 2026-02-03 16:55:53.446744 |