In the brief, the lawyers’ group said “misconduct by prosecutors and law enforcement officers is far too common.”
Joshua L. Dratel, one of the lawyers on the association’s brief, said the issues raised in Mr. Wey’s case often do not come to light
because more than 90 percent of cases brought by federal prosecutors end with guilty pleas.
Judge Alison Nathan of Federal District Court in Manhattan said in a 92-page ruling
that none of the documents, email messages, business receipts, computer hard drives and other records gathered in those searches could be used against Mr. Wey at his trial because the search warrants were overly broad and did not specify the crimes he was suspected of committing.
But the government’s case against Mr. Wey may be falling apart after a federal judge ruled this week that, in early 2012, law
enforcement botched a daylong search of his office in Lower Manhattan and his nearby apartment for evidence of wrongdoing.
Mr. Ganek’s lawsuit contends that an affidavit in support of the search warrant had “falsely represented”
that Mr. Ganek was involved in insider trading and that it was enough for the judge to approve the warrant.
Judge Nathan also expressed concern that it took more than a year for law enforcement to complete a “taint review” to determine which electronic communications
and documents on Mr. Wey’s computers and cellphones were subject to “potential privilege” claims by Mr. Wey and could not be used as evidence against him