A controversial Justice Department official whose conduct has drawn scrutiny in courts across the country has been implicated in a high-profile prosecution that was tossed out by a judge, according to a new report.
Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that Associate Attorney General Aakash Singh was in contact with the office of Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros during Operation Midway Blitz, and defense attorneys for the “Broadview Six” are seeking records that could tie him to the tainted case against protesters arrested during the immigration crackdown.
Six protesters — most with connections to local Democratic politics — were charged following a September protest outside a suburban immigration detention facility in Broadview.
Prosecutors alleged the group damaged a federal agent’s vehicle during the demonstration, but the case collapsed last month after U.S. District Judge April Perry uncovered what she described as apparent prosecutorial misconduct during grand jury proceedings.
She found that transcripts submitted to her by federal prosecutors had been altered to conceal what had actually taken place, and the U.S. attorney’s office subsequently dropped all charges.
Defense attorneys are now seeking records of any communications between Singh and the Chicago office related to their clients’ case, including cell phone records. Boutros’s office has previously stated that no communications with outside parties influenced investigative or charging decisions in the case.
Singh has faced scrutiny in at least one other federal court related to the human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was charged criminally after he successfully challenged his removal from the United States to El Salvador.
A judge in Tennessee last month dismissed that indictment on selective prosecution grounds, citing Singh’s role in pressuring a prosecutor and calling a politically sensitive case a “priority.”
A Justice Department spokesperson said Singh’s role coordinating with U.S. attorney’s offices is standard across administrations and that charging decisions are made by career prosecutors consistent with the law.
The judge has not ruled on the defense attorneys’ records request, but a legal expert flagged the claims against Singh as significant and possible evidence of criminal action.
“Aakash Singh, a member of the Maryland bar, was involved pressuring prosecutors in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case in TN and ‘rushing the fraud indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center’ case,” said Scott Horton, a contributing editor for Harper’s Magazine and a lecturer at Columbia Law School.
“Now he has been revealed to be the man behind efforts to corrupt the grand jury in the “Broadview Six’ case by telling the grand jury falsehoods and kicking jurors who voted ‘no true bill’ off the grand jury,” Horton added. “These may be criminal acts, and certainly would warrant his disbarment from law practice.”
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