Paying for Defense While Assets Frozen

Last Updated on: 14th November 2025, 04:51 pm

Paying for Defense While Assets Frozen

Welcome to Spodek Law Group’s website. The purpose of this article is to help answer an important question: how can you pay for defenses while assets are frozen. If you are accused of a federal crime, and now you’re trying to figure out how to pay for your defenses – we can help. Spodek Law Group understands this is a scary time. Many lawyers will refuse to talk – if they don’t think you’ll be able to pay them for their services.

If you’re reading this, your bank accounts are frozen—completely frozen—and you cannot access a single dollar to pay for the criminal defense attorney you desperately need. You tried to wire the retainer. Transaction blocked. Declined. You checked your business account balance and personal account balance. Zero access. You’re trapped. You cannot pay for defense while the prosecution moves forward with unlimited resources.

At Spodek Law Group—a second generation criminal defense firm with over 50 years of combined experience—our attorneys handle federal asset freeze cases where your Sixth Amendment right to counsel gets destroyed by pretrial restraining orders. Managing partner Todd Spodek was the defense attorney of Anna Delvey in the case that became a Netflix series. This is what you need to know in the next 72 hours.

Your Assets Just Got Frozen—What Happened and What’s Happening Right Now

The government filed a motion you didn’t know about—a civil action under 18 U.S. Code § 1345—for a temporary restraining order to freeze your assets. Ex parte. Which means they didn’t notify you, which means you weren’t at that hearing, which means you had zero opportunity to oppose. Your bank received the order and froze everything. You discovered the freeze when your transaction got declined. You’re already behind.

Federal prosecutors use Section 1345 to freeze assets pretrial in fraud cases, healthcare fraud cases, money laundering cases. The judge grants temporary restraining order without you present. Everything freezes instantly. The government has 14 days to convert the TRO to a preliminary injunction. Once it becomes preliminary injunction, the freeze extends indefinitely, maybe months, could be years, could be until trial. You have 7 to 10 days maximum to file opposition before that conversion happens. This is why the next 72 hours determine everything.

The Tainted vs. Untainted Distinction That Determines Everything

There’s one legal distinction that controls whether you can unfreeze assets to pay for defense—tainted versus untainted. This is everything. This determines your entire strategy, your entire case.

Tainted assets are money from the crime, money traceable to criminal conduct, money used as instrumentality of the crime. If prosecutors can show your assets are proceeds from healthcare fraud or wire fraud or money laundering, those assets are “tainted.” The government can freeze tainted assets even if you need them to hire attorney, regardless of your Sixth Amendment rights. Kaley v. United States established this—you have no Sixth Amendment right to use crime proceeds for legal fees. That’s settled law.

Untainted assets are legitimate property. Salary from employment. Business income from legal operations. Inheritance. Investment accounts. Savings you accumulated before any alleged criminal activity. Money that has nothing to do with the charges.

Luis v. United States is the Supreme Court case from 2016 that changed everything for untainted assets. The Court ruled—5 to 3 decision, Justice Breyer writing for the plurality—that pretrial restraint of legitimate, untainted assets needed to retain counsel of choice violates the Sixth Amendment. The government cannot freeze your legitimate funds just to preserve them for eventual restitution after conviction. Your constitutional right to hire the attorney you choose is more important than the government’s financial interest in freezing innocent property. That’s the holding.

Understanding Luis is one thing, actually using Luis to unfreeze your assets is different, completely different, because the burden-shifting that happens in real courtrooms—not in Supreme Court opinions, not in legal theory, but in actual federal district court hearings where magistrate judges are deciding your emergency motion in 15 minutes, maybe less—creates a documentation trap that most defendants don’t see coming until it’s way too late. Government shows up with the indictment, points to paragraph 12 which alleges you defrauded investors of $2 million, and judge says “probable cause established,” which means NOW—right now in that hearing—you need to prove your $1.5 million in frozen accounts came from legitimate sources, came from your salary and/or your investments and/or your inheritance, not from the alleged fraud, regardless of whether you actually committed fraud (you’re presumed innocent, remember?) but regardless of that presumption they’re freezing everything anyway. You need tax returns from 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 showing W-2 income or 1099 income or Schedule C business income that matches the deposits in your bank accounts—which you don’t have because government seized your computer during the search warrant execution, seized your files, seized your records, and now you’re trying to get those records from third parties (employer, accountant, bank, IRS) but those subpoenas take 10 to 14 days minimum, and your hearing is in 7 days, maybe less. This is the trap—not the legal standard (Luis protects untainted assets, that’s clear) but the procedural timeline that makes it nearly impossible to actually prove assets are untainted before judge rules, before the temporary restraining order becomes preliminary injunction, before your window closes. Courts want documentation, they want evidence, they want proof—not your testimony that “I earned this legitimately,” they’ve heard that before, many, many times, they need bank statements and tax returns and employment verification letters and forensic accountant analysis showing deposit sources, and if you can’t produce that documentation at the hearing (and you probably can’t if you’re only 7 days from asset freeze discovery to hearing date) then judge denies your motion, extends the freeze, and now you’re stuck with public defender whether or not your money was actually legitimate, whether or not Luis should protect you, because procedural reality defeats substantive rights when timelines compress and documentation disappears and you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Which is why the next 72 hours are critical.

The 72-Hour Emergency Window—What You Must Do RIGHT NOW

This is your emergency action plan. The next 72 hours determine whether you get private counsel or end up with overworked public defender who has maybe 40 hours total for your case when it needs 300 hours.

Hour 0 to 24: File Emergency Motion

File emergency motion to release assets for attorney fees. You can file pro se—courts will hear you because your Sixth Amendment rights are at stake. Request expedited hearing within 7 days. Identify specific attorney and retainer amount. Attach documentation you have: tax returns, bank statements, employment records.

Request PARTIAL release first. If attorney wants $150,000, request $50,000 for immediate retainer, litigate remaining amount later. Partial release succeeds more often than all-or-nothing because judges want middle ground. This two-phase approach breaks the catch-22—you get money to hire attorney NOW, that attorney fights for the rest.

Hour 24 to 48: Subpoena Third-Party Records

Government probably seized your files during search. Subpoena third parties: employer for W-2s, bank for statements, IRS for tax transcripts, accountant for business records. Subpoenas take 10 to 14 days. Your evidentiary hearing is in 7 to 14 days. You’re already in impossible timeline if you waited even three days. Hour 0 to 24 matters—file motion and start subpoenas immediately, simultaneously.

Hour 48 to 72: Consider Forensic Accountant

Forensic accountant costs $15,000 to $30,000 for deposit flow analysis and expert testimony. Defendants with forensic accountant win asset release 80-plus percent of the time. Without expert, maybe 40 percent, maybe less. Cost-benefit is simple: Lose challenge, stuck with public defender. Win challenge, hire $150,000 private attorney you need. The $15,000 investment pays for itself many, many times over—it’s necessary, it’s the only way you win this.

The Family Payment Loophole

Family members’ assets are typically NOT frozen. Your spouse’s separate accounts, your parents’ accounts, your siblings’ money—they can pay your attorney from THEIR accounts right now, within 48 hours, while you fight to unfreeze your own assets. Funds must be theirs, not your money recently transferred. If your parents have retirement account they’ve had for many, many years, they can write check to your attorney today. Family payment breaks the cycle, gets you out of the trap: Get attorney NOW through family funds, that attorney fights to unfreeze your assets.

Proving Your Assets Are Legitimate—The Documentation Battle

The evidentiary hearing determines whether assets get released. Courts look at tax returns from three to five years BEFORE the alleged criminal activity. Bank statements showing deposits from employment, business income, legitimate sources. If you claim inheritance or salary, you need documentation.

Government will argue your assets are commingled—legitimate income mixed with crime proceeds. You need documentation showing separation. If government seized your documents, subpoena third parties: employer, bank, IRS, accountant. Subpoenas take 10 to 14 days, which is why Hour 0 to 24 matters.

Forensic accountant testimony makes the difference—the critical difference between winning and losing. Expert deposit flow analysis succeeds 80-plus percent versus 40 percent without expert. The $15,000 to $30,000 investment is worth it, is necessary if you have any chance of unfreezing assets. Courts trust expert testimony more than your sworn statement.

Public Defender Now vs. Fight for Private Counsel—Your Strategic Choice

You’re facing a decision right now. Accept federal public defender immediately, or fight to unfreeze assets while trial approaches. Federal public defenders—skilled attorneys, good lawyers—are overwhelmed with 100-plus active cases each. They have limited investigation budgets and maybe 40 hours total for your case when it needs 300 hours. Private counsel gives dedicated attention, unlimited investigation budget, 300 to 500 hours of attorney time. For white-collar federal cases, private counsel often makes critical difference.

But fighting to unfreeze assets takes two to four weeks minimum. Meanwhile prosecution builds case while you have nobody representing you, nobody protecting your rights.

The Dual Representation Strategy: If you have the option of getting a public defender, do not scoff at it. Accept public defender NOW for immediate protection. Simultaneously file emergency motion to unfreeze assets. If you win the asset release, then you can switch to private counsel. If you lose, you already have experienced public defender who’s been working your case. Unlike other law firms who give binary choice, regardless of your situation—either accept public defender OR fight for private counsel—we’re telling you the third option, the dual-representation approach that eliminates risk and protects you immediately.

At Spodek Law Group, our attorneys handle federal asset freeze cases. Managing partner Todd Spodek, a second generation criminal defense attorney—was the lawyer who defended Anna Delvey in the case that became a Netflix series. Featured in NY Post, Newsweek, Fox 5. Over 50 years of combined experience handling Luis v. United States motions.

Criminal defense attorneys available 24/7—not just business hours. Answering immediately because your 72-hour emergency window doesn’t wait for Monday morning, doesn’t care about weekends. We can file emergency motion to release assets within 24 hours, coordinate with forensic accountants, subpoena third-party documentation, represent you at evidentiary hearing. Your next conversation with attorney determines whether you get private counsel or public defender with 40 hours for your case.

Call now, before your 72-hour window closes, before the TRO converts to preliminary injunction, before it’s too late and you’re stuck with whoever the court assigns you. Your constitutional right to counsel of choice is at stake. Your freedom depends on it.