Sunday, October 8, 2023

Define: United States

Everyone knows what United States means. Right?



As used in this chapter:
...
(15) “United States” means—
(A) a Federal corporation;
(B) an agency, department, commission, board, or other entity of the United States; or
(C) an instrumentality of the United States.


The curious read from the top of the pages and notice it says "in this chapter". Okay, what is this chapter?



Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Qui Tam suit from PACER

  PACER website administrators disable search functionality for logons which are not used every quarter. PACER accounts are free, though there is a charge for usage.


  A party has filed a suit to obtain damages for defrauding the federal government by alleging Pfizer sold vaccines which did not work. After logging in to PACER, search for case 1:21-cv-00008. The long description is:
1:21-cv-00008-MJT United States of America ex rel. Brooks Jackson v. Ventavia Research Group, LLC et al

  When navigating PACER, you will be able to download the case docket files at URL https://ecf.txed.uscourts.gov/doc1/175011612028.

  In a qui tam action under the false claims act, the filing party or "relator" brings the case on behalf of the government. The case is initially sealed while the government decides to petition onto the case or to ignore the case. This case alleges the federal government was billed for coronavirus vaccines which did not work.


  The complaint introduction describes the direction of the lawsuit against defendants including Pfizer,

Developing a safe and effective vaccine against the novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) was a matter of urgency. But that urgency does not excuse cutting corners in clinical trials, wasting taxpayer dollars, violating federal regulations, and possibly endangering Americans’ health. Defendants Pfizer Inc., Icon PLC, and Ventavia Research Group, LLC (collectively, “Defendants”) conducted a clinical trial to test one of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In the race to secure billions in federal funding and become the first to market, Defendants deliberately withheld crucial information from the United States that calls the safety and efficacy of their vaccine into question. Namely, Defendants concealed violations of both their clinical trial protocol and federal regulations, including falsification of clinical trial documents. Due to Defendants’ scheme, millions of Americans have received a misbranded vaccination which is potentially not as effective as represented. The vaccine’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) authorization resulted from a deeply flawed clinical trial that violated FDA regulations. Defendants have profited from the COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of the United States and its citizens by abusing the scientific process.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Trump Residence Search Warrant

The federal Southern District of Florida court has posted the unsealed search warrant and property receipt for Trump's Mar-A-Lago residence. This is case 22-8332-BER.

The order to unseal the redacted filing.

Redacted search warrant. The witness description may be of interest to some readers.

Monday, September 17, 2018

Define: Misprision

The common definition of misprision is neglect or wrong performance of official duty.

The federal definition is in 18 U.S. Code § 4 is
"Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both."

While this may potentially be used against state/local officials who overlook crimes by government actors, it may be very difficult to get a federal indictment.