Fifth Circuit reverses convictions for Ashcroft-Smith client

On August 1, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit published an extraordinary opinion reversed all of the money laundering convictions for Ashcroft Smith client Phillip Dell Clark — which invalidated half of the government’s evidence in the case — but it affirmed the gambling and conspiracy convictions.

Ashcroft Smith Partner Clifford Ashcroft-Smith led the more than double allotted time for oral argument with his expertise in the area from the underlying trial. The case involves a federal gambling, money laundering, and conspiracy prosecution in Texas involving internet sweepstakes cafés. The case deals with a rather unusual interplay between advanced technology, internet sweepstakes, and gaming laws, all of which have sparked nationwide criminal prosecutions and action by different state legislatures.

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/11/11-40265-CR0.wpd.pdf

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/OralArgRecordings/11/11-40265_6-5-2012.wma