Prosecutors Can Access DEA Agent’s Communications With Lawyers

Prosecutors can take a look at privileged communications between a former DEA agent and two Miami-based defense attorneys with whom he allegedly shared sensitive, non-public information, a federal court in Manhattan said Wednesday.

There’s probable cause to believe that the lawyers’ communications with Manuel Recio, a former agent turned consultant, fall within the crime-fraud exception, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said.

The evidence at trial established that John Costanzo Jr., a DEA agent at the time, leaked confidential DEA information to Recio in exchange for nearly $100,000 in bribes. Recio in turn shared the ...