Criminal Defense Lawyers

Pennsylvania Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers

Pennsylvania Federal Criminal Defense Lawyers

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our mission is to give you the information you need to understand whats actually happening if federal agents have contacted you in Pennsylvania. Not the version that makes you feel better. The version that might save your future.

Heres what nobody tells you about federal criminal defense in Pennsylvania: when those agents knock on your door or call you for an “informal conversation,” there not starting an investigation. There finishing one. The case against you has been building for months or years while you went about your life completely unaware. They’ve been reading your emails, analyzing your bank records, interviewing people you know, and assembling evidence through grand jury subpoenas you never saw. By the time they want to talk to you, they’ve already decided your guilty. The conversation isnt fact-finding. Its evidence-creating. And everything you say without understanding what they already have becomes the final piece they need to indict you.

Pennsylvania isnt one federal prosecution system. Its three separate machines, each with different priorities, different judges, and different ways there going to come after you. Which district your case lands in matters as much as what you allegedly did. The Eastern District in Philadelphia has sent governors, mayors, union bosses, and judges to federal prison. The Middle District in Harrisburg runs an assembly line for healthcare fraud prosecutions with a 96% conviction rate. The Western District in Pittsburgh connects every drug case to Mexican cartels whether it actually fits or not. Your case lands in whichever district has jurisdiction, and that geographical decision shapes everything that follows.

Three Districts, Three Different Prosecutions

Lets be clear about the geography becuase it determines your entire prosecution experience. Pennsylvania has three federal judicial districts and understanding which one has jurisdiction over your case is critical.

The Eastern District of Pennsylvania covers Philadelphia and surrounding counties. This district has built its reputation on taking down powerful people. Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia destroyed entire political machines. Former Philadelphia Traffic Court judges – multiple judges, not just one – went to federal prison in a ticket-fixing scheme. Union boss John Dougherty got convicted on embezzlement charges. Former Congressman Chaka Fattah went down for racketeering. The EDPA doesn’t care who you are or what connections you think you have. They’ve already proven they’ll indict anyone. If your facing charges in the Eastern District, understand that your dealing with prosecutors who view taking down prominent people as career-building.

The Middle District of Pennsylvania operates out of Harrisburg. This is were things get dangerous for anyone in healthcare. Doctors, nurses, clinic owners, billing managers, pharmacists – if you work in healthcare and recieve a target letter from the Middle District, you need to understand something right now. The Middle District runs a specialized healthcare fraud prosecution unit that achieves a 96% conviction rate. Not 93% like the national average. 96%. They use pattern-recognition software that analyzes billing data across Medicare and Medicaid. Your billing doesnt even get reviewed by a human investigator first. An algorithm flags you as “abnormal,” and then they spend six months building the case to confirm what the software already decided.

The Western District of Pennsylvania covers Pittsburgh and everything west. This district handles alot of drug conspiracy cases and has developed a pattern of connecting local distribution to cartel operations. Prosecutors in the Western District regularly invoke the specter of Mexican drug cartels – Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation – even in cases involving mid-level dealers who’ve never been within 500 miles of the border. Its a sentencing strategy. Cartel connections mean higher guidelines. Your facing mandatory minimums before you even get to argue about your actual role.

The Western District also prosecutes firearms trafficking that crosses state lines. Pennsylvania’s proximity to Ohio, West Virginia, and New York makes it a corridor for illegal gun sales. Federal prosecutors use this geography to bring charges under 18 USC 922, which carries mandatory minimums if you’ve got prior convictions. A simple straw purchase case – buying a gun for someone else who cant legally own one – becomes a federal felony with years of exposure when prosecutors can show interstate movement.

The Timeline You Didnt See

Heres the gap that destroys people. You think the investigation started when they contacted you. Actually, it started 12 to 36 months earlier. Minimum.

Federal investigations follow a pattern. It starts with a referral – maybe an IRS audit flags suspicious transactions, maybe a whistleblower files a qui tam lawsuit, maybe a cooperating defendant from another case mentions your name. That referral goes to a federal prosecutor who opens a preliminary inquiry. No one tells you this is happening. There’s no notification requirement.

During the preliminary inquiry phase, prosecutors issue administrative subpoenas for your financial records. Banks comply. Credit card companies comply. Your business partners comply. Your accountant might comply without telling you if the subpoena includes a non-disclosure order. All of this happens without your knowledge becuase its not yet a “formal investigation.”

If the preliminary inquiry finds enough to justify continued investigation, it becomes a full investigation. Now they can use grand jury subpoenas, which have more power. They can compel testimony. They can get warrants for emails. In Pennsylvania, federal grand juries meet regularly in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. Witnesses appear, provide documents, and testify about you while you have no idea its occurring. Your attorney cant be in the grand jury room. You have no right to cross-examine witnesses. The prosecutor controls everything.

This investigation phase can run for years. In complex financial fraud cases or RICO prosecutions – which the Eastern District loves – investigations routinely exceed two years before anyones arrested. They’ve been reading your emails for 18 months. They’ve interviewed your employees, your clients, your ex-business partner who hates you. They’ve copied your entire server. They have cooperating witnesses who’ve made controlled calls recording your conversations.

In Pennsylvania’s political corruption cases, the investigation timeline can be particularly brutal. The Eastern District has run investigations for three or four years before making arrests in cases involving government contracts, union corruption, or municipal fraud. By the time they move, they’ve got recordings, financial records, cooperating witnesses who wore wires to meetings, and documentary evidence that spans years. Your not fighting an accusation. Your fighting a completed prosecutorial case file.

And then, one day, you get a knock on the door. Or a target letter in the mail. Or a friendly call from an agent who wants to “clear some things up.” That’s when you learn theres an investigation. But for federal prosecutors, that’s when the investigation is substantially complete.

The Algorithm Already Decided

This is the part that should terrify healthcare providers in Pennsylvania. In the Middle District, federal healthcare fraud prosecutions don’t start with human investigators reviewing your patient charts to determine if treatments were medically neccesary. They start with software.

Medicare and Medicaid billing data gets fed into pattern-recognition algorithms that compare your billing to statistical norms for your specialty, your geographic region, your patient demographics. If your billing is two or three standard deviations above the mean – if your performing more procedures, billing for higher-complexity visits, ordering more diagnostic tests than the algorithm expects – you get flagged. Not investigated. Flagged.

Once your flagged, that data goes to a human prosecutor who now has a presumption: your probably committing fraud. The investigation that follows is confirmatory. There looking for evidence that supports the algorithmic conclusion. An algorithm decided your probably guilty, and they spent six months confirming it.

The HHS Office of Inspector General runs healthcare fraud strike forces that coordinate with U.S. Attorneys offices specifically for this purpose. The Middle District of Pennsylvania participates. They have specialized prosecutors who do nothing but healthcare fraud cases. They’ve developed assembly-line prosecution. Your case isnt unique to them. Its case number 47 this year that matches the pattern: abnormal billing → chart review → find “medically unnecessary” procedures → indict for fraud.

The 96% conviction rate isn’t an accident. Its a system designed to produce convictions. By the time your indicted, they’ve already had expert witnesses review your charts and opine that the treatments weren’t medically necessary. Your going to argue medical judgment. There going to argue statistical deviation from norms plus “unnecessary” procedures equals fraud. Juries trust statistics and government experts.

Your billing pattern didn’t match there statistical model. Thats it. Thats what started the investigation that might send you to federal prison.

The Proffer Paradox That Destroys Cases

Most people facing federal charges think cooperation is there only path forward. Sometimes thats true. Sometimes its the trap that eliminates every defense you had.

Heres how it works. Your attorney tells prosecutors you want to cooperate. Prosecutors say great, lets do a proffer. A proffer is a meeting were you tell them everything you know about the alleged crime, everyone involved, your role, other peoples roles – everything. In exchange, they sign a proffer agreement (sometimes called a “queen for a day” letter) saying they wont use your exact statements against you at trial.

That sounds protective. It isnt.

Heres what the proffer agreement dosent protect you from:

• They CAN use everything you told them to find other evidence against you. If you mention a meeting in March 2023, they can now subpoena everyone who was at that meeting.
• They CAN use your statements to impeach you if you testify at trial and say something different. One inconsistency between your proffer and your trial testimony and your credibility is destroyed.
• They now know every defense you were planning to use, every explanation for the documents, every “innocent explanation” your attorney might have argued.
• And if you proffer and then decide not to cooperate fully – maybe you cant deliver the information you promised, maybe you fail a polygraph, maybe your information turns out to be less valuable than they thought – youve made everything dramatically worse for yourself.

Experienced attorneys will tell you that early intervention sometimes prevents indictment – and thats true for about 10-15% of target letter recipients. Those cases usually involve mistaken identity, demonstrating no prosecutable role, or providing evidence that exculpates you which prosecutors genuinely hadn’t considered. The investigation was still substantially complete. Your not catching them early. Your providing information that makes them reconsider there conclusion.

The other 85-90%? They get indicted anyway. And if they profferred without understanding what the government already had, they gave away there defense for nothing.

Practitioners say it constantly: “Proffering before your attorney has fully reviewed all available discovery and understands what the government actually has is almost always a mistake.” But clients panic. They think cooperation is the only option. They proffer in week one. They lock in a narrative before knowing what evidence exists. They misremember a date – not lying, genuinely misremembering – and now prosecutors think there dealing with a liar who cant be trusted.

In Pennsylvania RICO cases and major drug conspiracies, cooperation can be absolutely critical becuase the sentences are so harsh. Were talking life sentences or 30+ years under the guidelines. Some defendants facing life ended up with 15-20 years because they provided substantial assistance including trial testimony. But that only works if you actually have valuable information, if you can deliver it consistantly, and if your prepaired for years of cooperation requirements including wearing wires, making controlled calls, and testifying against people who might retaliate.

Never proffer without understanding that your betting everything on cooperation working out. And never proffer before your attorney has thoroughy investigated what the government actually has against you.

Where You Actually Go (Lewisburg, Canaan, McKean)

Lets get concrete about what happens if your convicted in Pennsylvania federal court. Not the abstract “you could face prison time.” Were talking about were you actually go, what those facilities are actually like, and how much of your sentence youll actually serve.

Pennsylvania has multiple federal prison facilities. If your convicted in the Eastern, Middle, or Western District, you could end up at any of them depending on your security classification.

USP Lewisburg in central Pennsylvania is a Special Management Unit – a high-security penitentiary. This isnt general population federal prison. This is were the Bureau of Prisons sends inmates who’ve been violent in other facilities or who need separation from general population for security reasons. If your convicted of a violent federal offense or if your case involves gang affiliations or organized crime, you could end up at Lewisburg serving your sentence in restrictive housing.

USP Canaan, also in Pennsylvania, is a high-security United States Penitentiary. This facility has documented violence incidents. Were talking about stabbings, assaults, gang activity. If your security classification requires high-security placement – which happens with drug trafficking conspiracies involving cartels, RICO cases, or violent crimes – USP Canaan is were you might serve 10, 15, 20 years of your life.

FCI McKean in Bradford, Pennsylvania, is a medium-security facility. This is were many white-collar defendants end up if there conviction involves fraud, healthcare fraud, public corruption – non-violent offenses. Its still federal prison. Your still separated from your family for years. Your still living in a facility with hundreds of other inmates, following a schedule, losing your freedom.

And heres the part that makes federal sentences hit different than state sentences. Theres no federal parole. That program ended in 1987. You will serve a minimum of 85% of your sentence. If your sentenced to 10 years, your doing at least 8.5 years. If your sentenced to 20 years, your doing at least 17 years. The good time credit is capped at 15%. There is no early release for overcrowding. There is no parole board to impress. Federal time is real time.

What Actually Helps

After everything Ive described – the three-district prosecution machines, the investigation timelines you never saw, the algorithmic targeting, the proffer traps, the harsh facilities, the mandatory 85% time – you might be wondering what actually works. What can a federal criminal defense attorney do against this system?

First, early intervention matters, but only if you understand the realistic success rate. If your being investigated but havent been charged yet, an experienced federal attorney can sometimes prevent charges from being filed. They can communicate with prosecutors, present mitigating information, demonstrate why prosecution isnt warranted. This works in roughly 10-15% of target letter cases. Not 50%. Not 30%. 10-15%. Those successes usually involve proving mistaken identity, demonstrating no criminal intent, or showing that what looks like criminal conduct actually has a legitimate explanation prosecutors hadn’t considered.

Once your indicted, the dynamics shift dramatically. Now the government has publicly committed to prosecution. Dismissals after indictment are rare. The fight becomes about the best possible outcome – a favorable plea agreement, cooperation credit, guideline departures, or in the small percentage of cases that go to trial, acquittal or conviction on lesser charges.

Second, understanding the specific district matters. An attorney who regularly appears in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania knows the judges, knows the prosecutors, knows how the Philadelphia federal court operates. The Middle District in Harrisburg has different dynamics. The Western District in Pittsburgh has different prosecutors. Local experience isnt just helpful. Its critical. Generic “federal defense” experience from another state or district dosent translate directly.

Third, if your going to cooperate, timing and strategy are everything. An attorney who understands cooperation needs to know: What information does the client actually have? Is it valuable enough to warrant substantial assistance? What are the risks of profferring? What does the government already know? Cooperation done right can take decades off a sentence. Cooperation done wrong eliminates defenses and provides no benefit.

Fourth, sentencing is were experienced defense attorneys earn there value. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines are incredibly complex. Calculating offense levels, criminal history categories, specific offense characteristics, adjustments, departures – this is technical work that requires expertise. The difference between guideline ranges can be the difference between 5 years and 15 years. An attorney who knows how to argue for downward departures, how to challenge guideline enhancements, how to present mitigation effectively – that expertise directly impacts how many years you spend in federal prison.

Todd Spodek and the Spodek Law Group have represented clients in federal courts across the country, including complex cases in Pennsylvania’s three federal districts. We understand that federal defense isnt about dramatic courtroom moments. Its about meticulous preperation, strategic positioning, understanding what the government actually has, and knowing exactly when to fight and when to negotiate.

If your facing federal charges in Pennsylvania – or if youve been contacted by federal agents and charges seem likely – dont wait. The federal government has been building there case for months or years. Every day you delay is a day they get stronger and you stay uninformed about what your actually facing. Call 212-300-5196 for a consultation. We’ll give you an honest assessment of were you stand and what your options actually are.

This is serious. Treat it that way.