Fox Rothschild: The Presumption of Innocence

Episode 88 Bargained Away: Inside America's Plea Machine Hosted by Matt Adams “One of the most haunting questions I've asked on social media is for prosecutors to identify any lever that the law permits them to apply in order to try to elicit a guilty plea that they would not apply because they personally think that it would be immoral, unethical or otherwise unjust to apply that much leverage. I'...

Episode 87 Public Defense Reimagined: A New Jersey Blueprint Hosted by Matt Adams “Most people don't want to commit crime. There are very few people who go out of their house in the morning and say, 'I'm going to commit crime.' ... Most people are dealing with experiences in their lives, be that addiction, be that mental health issues, be that an inability to get a job or housing, that are maybe n...

Episode 86 Weaponization of DOJ Isn't New: The Untold Story of Stephen Keller Hosted by Matt Adams and Stephen Keller “My heart dropped to my feet. And the life just left me, and I knew that at that time we were done. I knew whatever this was, it's not good... After that, the whole demeanor of the judge changed. Anything my attorneys asked for, they were not granted... There was absolutely no due...

Episode 85 The Presumption of Innocence - Episode 85 Inside the Interrogation Room: A Psychologist's Mission to End False Juvenile Confessions An innocent person would never confess to a crime they didn't commit, right? That's what most people believe. But the science tells a very different story. In this compelling episode of “The Presumption of Innocence,” host Matt Adams talks with Dr. Hayley C...

Episode 84 The Presumption of Innocence - Episode 84 Host Matt Adams sits down with former Enron Task Force lead prosecutor and Duke Law Professor Samuel Buell to trace the arc of corporate fraud enforcement — from the historic conviction of Enron's top executives to the challenges facing regulators and prosecutors today. Buell offers a candid look at how the Enron prosecution came together, inclu...

Episode 83 Section 230 at 30: Can the Law That Built the Internet Survive? For 30 years, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gave online platforms broad immunity from liability for user-generated content. But that shield is now full of holes and cracking in every direction. In this episode, host Matt Adams and Eric Goldman, Associate Dean for Research at Santa Clara University School of...

Episode 82 Is Qui Tam Unconstitutional? The False Claims Act's Constitutional Reckoning The qui tam provision of the False Claims Act has turned whistleblowing into a $6.8 billion-a-year industry. And now, the Constitution might be coming to collect. Host Matt Adams is joined by his Fox Rothschild colleagues Joe DeMaria and Morgan McCall Reece to dissect whether private relators wielding governmen...

Episode 81 Tipper X Unmasked: Wall Street's Most Unlikely Informant What makes a promising young Wall Street analyst with an Ivy League business degree stuff $15,000 cash into his shirt, walk through airport security and hand-deliver a payoff to his insider trading source? Ask Tom Hardin. In this episode, host Matt Adams sits down with Tom, also known as Tipper X, whose cooperation helped the FBI...

Episode 80 Method, Not Madness: How Forensic Psychiatrists Help Criminal Defense Few areas of criminal law are as complex — or as consequential — as the intersection of mental illness and criminal responsibility. Host Matt Adams welcomes forensic psychiatrist Dr. Steven Simring for a deep dive into how psychiatric evaluations can influence charging decisions, trial proceedings and sentencing. Draw...

Episode 79 Tactical Playbook: Surviving the Tariff Enforcement Blitz In 2025, the government recovered $6.8 billion from False Claims Act cases involving customs fraud — nearly three times more than the prior year's total. Explore this dramatic surge in tariff enforcement with host Matt Adams and International Trade Partner Brittney Powell. This informative episode covers the fundamentals of tarif...

Episode 78 Decrypting Crypto: How It Works and How It’s Watched Cryptocurrency remains poorly understood by much of the public. Only 17% of U.S. adults say they have ever invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency — a share that is statistically unchanged since 2021, according to the Pew Research Center. Jonathan Schmalfeld, Director of Policy for The Digital Chamber, joins host Matt Adams to de...

Episode 77 The Shadow Docket: Supreme Court Decisions That Shape America In recent years, the Supreme Court of the United States has issued decisions that have altered the course of American life and politics. Carolyn Shapiro joins host Matt Adams to take a look at some of these compelling cases. A former Illinois Solicitor General, Carolyn is now a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, where...

Episode 76 Automation With Expert Oversight: The Future of Forensic Accounting Dive into how technology is transforming forensic accounting, and why expert review remains an essential safeguard against blind reliance on automation. Chris Ekimoff, an investigations leader at Withum who works at the intersection of financial investigations, technology and risk management, joins host Matt Adams to un...

Episode 75 Who’s in Charge? Navigating Uncertainty in New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney’s Office The prolonged legal fight over Alina Habba's status as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor has thrown court proceedings throughout the Garden State into turmoil. Even with the recent Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision and Habba’s alleged resignation, the future remains uncertain, according to James Pearc...

Episode 74 Shattered Scales: Structural Harm in the Criminal Justice System Is the American criminal justice system designed to find truth and justice? Or is it an apparatus created to secure convictions as efficiently as possible and penalize poverty? Peer behind the courthouse door with former public defender Emily Galvin Almanza as she joins host Matt Adams to discuss her book, The Price of Mer...

Episode 73 The Fraud Whisperer: A Journey From Hedge Fund Hustler to Corporate Risk Adviser Determined to reshape his future once he was released from FCI Otisville, convicted white-collar criminal Mark Varacchi immersed himself in uncovering statistics on white-collar fraud to lay the groundwork for his post-prison life. The former hedge fund C-suite executive, who now runs Federal Prison Consult...

Episode 72 Beyond the Headlines: Unpacking a Pivotal Case on Privilege Protections A federal court ruling issued in a case involving an alleged bribery scandal shook the legal world when it appeared to limit attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine. The case grabbed the attention of Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom, who followed the matter through its reversal by an appeals court. H...

Episode 71 Necessary Narratives: Storytelling That Moves Lives Forward Harnessing his personal experience as an incarcerated individual and his writing talents as a storyteller, Brad Rouse is focused on helping defendants accelerate their path to redemption and healing. A former on- and off-Broadway director who spent time in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) on a federal drug charge,...

Episode 70 Fireside Chat With Rachel Barkow and Casey Michel Recorded at our 2025 White-Collar Symposium earlier this month, this special episode gives guests Rachel Barkow and Casey Michel an opportunity to address the issues explored in each other’s books. With host Matt Adams as moderator, Rachel — an author, law professor and former clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia — and Casey — an investigati...

Episode 69 Unpacking Cashless Bail: Equity vs. Public Safety The debate over cashless bail has intensified following the August Executive Order calling for its nationwide elimination. In this episode, host Matt Adams moderates a conversation featuring dueling perspectives on the cashless bail issue from guests Chanel Rhymes and Ken Good. Chanel is the Director of Advocacy for the Northwest Communi...

Episode 68 The Legacy and Lessons of Guantanamo Bay: A Defense Attorney’s Perspective More than two decades have passed since the doors of Guantanamo Bay were opened to house alleged terrorists. Those doors remain open, though the number of detainees has dwindled to 15. In this episode, Mark Denbeaux, Professor Emeritus and Director of the Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall University Sc...

Episode 67 Shattering the Myth of Rational Justice The American justice system is based on incorrect assumptions about the rationality and logic of human behavior. That’s according to Drexel University Law Professor Adam Benforado, the New York Times bestselling author of Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Injustice. Using the disciplines of psychology and social science upon which he based his b...

Episode 66 Tariff Uncertainty and Compliance Risks for Businesses The Trump administration’s fluctuating tariffs pose major compliance risks for businesses operating in the U.S. Dive into the challenges they pose to businesses that rely on imported goods and services as Marina Gentile joins host Matt Adams to break down the complex aspects of global transfer pricing. A Partner and Lead of the Glob...

Episode 65 The Power of Interpretation: Constitutional Meaning in the Modern World The Constitution takes center stage in this latest episode with legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of UC Berkeley Law, who is renowned for his studies of constitutional law and federal civil procedure. He and host Matt Adams dig into how the Constitution is interpreted, and occasionally misunderstood, by elected...

Episode 64 Cages We Built: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America The U.S. imprisons a larger percentage of its population than any other country in the world. How did we get here? Rachel Barkow, Charles Seligson Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Zimroth Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University School of Law, returns to the podcast for an in-depth discuss...