Shouldn't the government let you move on with your life after an acquittal?

You would think so.

But not so much with Mike Pizzi, who the government tried to set up again (this time it was the State). There won't be an indictment or trial in this case, and Pizzi made it clear on tapes that he was clean. Dave Ovalle from The Herald has the scoop:

The allegations against Pizzi surfaced at an Aug. 6, 2015, meeting when Flores, again secretly recording the exchange, asked if Pinder was still getting a monthly $3,000 kickback from Pizzi for getting him the job. Pinder sounded baffled.

“Mike don’t give me sh-t,” Pinder said angrily.

“He owes you three grand a month. ... He’s f---ing you,” said Flores, who claimed Pizzi was also supposed to give him $1,000 a month.

With Flores at his side, a testy Pinder called Pizzi on speakerphone. “Are you f---ing me, Mike? ” Pinder told him. “He says you’re f---ing me.”

“What are you talking about,” Pizzi replied.

The conversation quickly turned to joking around and plans for dinner. “You saw how he changed the conversation?” Flores said after they hung up, adding: “He’s taking you to the cleaners.”

The three never got together for dinner. But Flores did meet with Pizzi on Oct. 13 at Lakes Seafood. He did not confront Pizzi, according to the secret tapes, asking only that Pinder “thought I was getting money from you.”

Pizzi replied that he paid nobody, then floated a plan to ask Pinder to get the city to hire him for “special litigation” at $150 an hour. “Just to get back in the door,” Pizzi said on the recording. “All he gets is great services at a great cost.”

Pizzi told the Miami Herald that Flores called him later, pressing him to get involved in a corruption scheme in Opa-locka. He said he sent Flores a text that he wasn’t for sale: “Jose. Thanks. my friend. But I’m not interested in Opa Locka. DON’T DO BUSINESS THAT WAY. SEE YOU SOON. THEY CAN FIND ANOTHER LAWYER.”

The two did not speak again until December, when Pizzi said Flores called to meet for a drink at the Havana Group Cigar Club in Miami Lakes. As football blared on the TV in the background, Pizzi urged Flores to stay away from Opa-locka and leave him out of city business.

“Do me a favor, never mention my name,” Pizzi said.

Bragging on my partner Margot Moss

She has the cover story in NACDL's The Champion this month. It's a primer on restitution, titled "Restitution in Federal White Collar Cases."

This reminded me of Judge Palermo and his pocket Constitution

Rosenbaum/Jill Pryor: we're trying to be nice here but our colleagues are really really wrong

That's the message in this -- yet another Johnson -- concurrence (which Jordan did not join).  From the intro and then the conclusion:

To err is human; to forgive, divine; but to correct? Well ... after In re
Baptiste, No. 16-13959, _ F.3d _, 2016 WL 3752118 (I Ith Cir. July 13, 2016),
that's not something we do in this Circuit, when it comes to wrongly denied
inmates' requests for authorization to file a second or successive habeas petition.
So some inmates with sentences unconstitutionally enhanced under the Armed
Career Criminal Act may sit in prison for years beyond their constitutionally
authorized sentences. Though we deeply respect our colleagues, we think this is
just wrong.
***
Arnold Bennett said that "[a]ll wrong doing is done in the sincere belief that
it is the best thing to do." We do not doubt our colleagues' intentions in issuing
Baptiste. But their good intentions do not make their conclusions in that case, in
our view, any less wrong.

News & Notes

1.  FNU is not the same as FIU.  That was easy.  But it took the 11th Circuit 50 pages.  KMW affirmed.

2.  Bar complaints were filed in the Miccosukee case against Bernardo Roman and Jose "Pepe" Herrera. From the DBR:

The Florida Bar filed formal complaints against two Miami lawyers who represented the Miccosukee tribe, alleging they knowingly made false and frivolous claims against former counsel for the tribe.
The complaints against Bernardo Roman III ( read the Roman complaint here) and Jose "Pepe" Herrera ( read the Herrera complaint here) ask the Florida Supreme Court to consider disciplining the attorneys for pursuing meritless claims, withholding evidence and even making a false 911 call during litigation against Miami lawyers Guy Lewis and Michael Tein and their firm, Lewis Tein.
The Thursday filings are the latest development in a nasty saga that led to the tribe agreeing in May to pay $4 million to cover Lewis and Tein's attorney fees in three racketeering and malpractice lawsuits Roman pursued. The tribe cut ties with Roman last year.
"Each court that has examined this issue has determined that Roman's actions resulted from the bad blood, or personal animosity, held by Roman and the new tribal leadership against the former tribal administration and its associates, including Lewis and Tein," states one of the complaints filed by Florida Bar lawyer Jennifer Falcone in Miami.

3.  Bitcoin is not money.  From the MH:

But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Teresa Mary Pooler ruled that Bitcoin was not backed by any government or bank, and was not “tangible wealth” and “cannot be hidden under a mattress like cash and gold bars.”
“The court is not an expert in economics; however, it is very clear, even to someone with limited knowledge in the area, the Bitcoin has a long way to go before it the equivalent of money,” Pooler wrote in an eight-page order.
The judge also wrote that Florida law — which says someone can be charged with money laundering if they engage in a financial transaction that will “promote” illegal activity — is way too vague to apply to Bitcoin.
“This court is unwilling to punish a man for selling his property to another, when his actions fall under a statute that is so vaguely written that even legal professionals have difficulty finding a singular meaning,” she wrote.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article91682102.html#storylink=cpy