U.S. District Judge Leo Glasser is now weighing a claim by Bandfield’s attorney, Eugene Ingoglia, that the breadth of the search exceeded what would be allowed under U.S. law. Prosecutors said the raid did not violate Bandfield’s rights and that U.S. agents weren’t involved.
Bandfield’s case is among the first to challenge tactics used by overseas investigators. Earlier this year, a federal judge in Manhattan upheld the convictions of two ex-Rabobank Groep traders who complained that evidence gathered by British investigators had tainted the U.S. case. He disagreed.
Bandfield has a high hurdle before him. Under the so-called international silver platter doctrine, evidence gathered by foreign governments through means that would violate the Constitution can still be admissible in an American case if handed over "on a silver platter" -- meaning collected without U.S involvement, lawyers said.
The only exceptions are conduct by a foreign government that "shocks the conscience," such as torture, or if the U.S. directs an illegal search. Otherwise, said Andrew S. Boutros, a former federal prosecutor now at Seyfarth Shaw LLP, “the evidence is coming in.”