US Judge Shared Confidential Details of Criminal Investigation

A federal trial judge won’t be disciplined after being found to have disclosed information about an ongoing criminal probe that may have helped the target obstruct the investigation.

According to a recently published order from the Judicial Council for the Fifth Circuit, the unnamed judge was accused by a law enforcement agency of sharing “sensitive and confidential information regarding a law-enforcement public corruption investigation” with a family member, after learning it during a sealed proceeding in a criminal case.

The information was alleged to have then been shared with the target of the investigation, “and that the disclosure allowed the target to attempt to obstruct the investigation and brought the investigation to an early end,” according to the order. The unnamed target of the investigation was later convicted of charges including obstruction of justice.

Chief Judge Priscilla Richman of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit created a special committee to investigate the conduct. That panel “concluded that the judge had, at a minimum, disclosed sensitive information regarding an ongoing criminal investigation, that the information found its way to the investigation’s target, and that it might have prompted the target’s evasive behavior,” according to the order.

In response, the US district judge said he would “never intentionally interfere with a law enforcement investigation,” that he understands the risks and consequences of disclosing confidential information, and “committed to avoid such disclosures in the future.”

“The Special Committee found the judge’s representations to be sincere and that his commitment to avoid such disclosures in the future appropriately addresses their concerns raised by the complaint,” the order reads. The committee then recommended that the proceeding be closed “because appropriate corrective action has been taken,” and the Fifth Circuit’s judicial council followed that recommendation.

While the subject judge is unnamed in the report, Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod and James Ho of the Fifth Circuit, as well as US District Judge Carlton Reeves of the Southern District of Mississippi, would have made the name public. Former Fifth Circuit Judge Gregg Costa, who was on the council when the matter was considered in 2021, also would have released the judge’s name.

The order is dated May 17 but was only publicly posted this week.