Law Students Seek Release of Secret Nonprosecution Deals with Corporations

By Debra Cassens Weiss
ABA Journal
April 10, 2014

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/law_students_seek_release_of_secret_nonprosecution_deals_with_corporations/

Law students at the First Amendment clinic at the University of Virginia filed freedom of information requests this week in an effort to unseal 30 secret settlement deals between federal prosecutors and banks and corporations.

The New York Times DealBook blog has the story. “Some law school students send the Justice Department resumes and references,” the Times says. “At the University of Virginia School of Law, one class is sending document requests and lawsuits.”

The requests follow initial success in the clinic’s first lawsuit seeking the release of a nonprosecution agreement with ABC Professional Tree Services, the newspaper says. Prosecutors announced in a 2012 press release that the company had agreed to forfeit $2 million related to revenue derived from employing illegal aliens. After the students filed suit, prosecutors released the agreement.

The FOIA requests seek information about government deals with the British bank HSBC, the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and several other large companies.