Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bronson et al

Filing 412

ORDER granting 411 Letter Motion to Compel. All three requests are granted. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Kenneth M. Karas on 10/27/2022) (jca)

Case 7:12-cv-06421-KMK Document 412 Filed 10/27/22 Page 1 of 2
UNCTE.D STATES

MEMO ENDORS
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMl!SSION
100 PEARL STREET,. S UfTE 20-100
NEW Yo R K, NY t 0004- 2 .6 t 6'

DIVISION, O P'

EN f'! ORC£MENT

October 27, 2022
ByECF
Hon. Kenneth M. Karas
United States District Court
United States Courthouse
300 Quarropas Street, Chambers 533
White Plains, New York 10601-4150
Re:

US. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bronson et al. ,
12-CV-6421 (KMK)

Dear Judge Karas:
I write on behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to ask the
Court to compel Paul Rachmuth to produce now overdue documents responsive to the
SEC' s September 14, 2022 subpoena, returnable on October 14th.
As background, the SEC served a document subpoena on Defendant
Edward Bronson' s then attorney, Mr. Rachmuth, for the production of nonprivileged documents. In his letter to the Court on September 14, DE 383 , Mr.
Rachmuth represented that he intended "to fully comply with the subpoena . ... "
Even so, on October 16th , Mr. Rachmuth sent at least a portion of his document
production to Mr. Bronson' s new counsel, Judd Burstein, for a privilege review,
and not to the SEC. It remains unclear, however, whether Mr. Rachmuth
provided all of the responsive documents to Mr. Burstein as he has failed
repeatedly to respond to the Commission's inquiries about the production. Mr.
Burstein, in turn, has represented to Commission counsel that he has turned over
all of the documents Mr. Rachmuth sent to him. Mr. Burstein cannot confirm nor is it his obligation to confirm - that the SEC has all documents responsive to
Mr. Rachmuth's subpoena. Mr. Rachmuth has not responded to the SEC' s
- - - ~ - - - repeated-requests-fof-his...prod-uG-tion and-a-f)riv-i-le-ge-log-for- aay-a~1±me,n,1",,-- - - - - - - - - - - withheld for privilege. 1
Based on the forgoing, the SEC respectfully requests that the Court order
Mr. Rachmuth to : (i) produce all non-privileged documents in his possession
which were not provided to Judd Burstein forthwith but no later than within 24
hours of entry of this Order or confirm that all documents responsive to the
subpoena were provided to Mr. Burstein; (ii) provide a privilege log that
conforms with Local Rule 26.2 within 3 days of entry of this order for any
1

The SEC seeks to have Mr. Rachmuth produce any documents he did not turn over to Mr. Burstein.

Case 7:12-cv-06421-KMK Document 412 Filed 10/27/22 Page 2 of 2

documents Mr. Rachmuth withheld for privilege; and (iii) turnover to the Court
no later than 3 days of entry of this order all documents withheld for privilege for
an in camera review to conffrm the documents were withheld appropriately.
Respectfully submitted,
s/ Maureen Peyton King
All three requests are granted.