22-226 Jabar v. U.S. Department of Justice In the United States Court of Appeals For the Second Circuit August Term, 2022 No. 22-226 STEVE SATAR JABAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Defendant-Appellee. On Appeal from a Judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. SUBMITTED: JANUARY 23, 2023 DECIDED: FEBRUARY 23, 2023 Before: CABRANES and NARDINI, Circuit Judges, and RAKOFF, District Judge. * * Judge Jed S. Rakoff, of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. Plaintiff-Appellant Steve Satar Jabar appeals from a decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (John Sinatra, Jr., J.) granting summary judgment to the United States Department of Justice. Jabar sued the Department of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, seeking documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation related to himself, speculating that they might include exculpatory information that the government had not disclosed in his recent criminal trial. The government produced 21 sets of responsive documents and an index detailing FOIA exemptions under which it withheld other responsive documents, and the district court granted summary judgment for the government. On appeal, Jabar argues (1) that summary judgment was improperly granted because his FOIA action is an effort to vindicate his rights under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and (2) that, in the alternative, the district court erred in not conducting an in camera inspection of withheld documents. We hold otherwise. As we explained in Brown v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 658 F.2d 71, 76 (2d Cir. 1981), FOIA and the criminal discovery process provide distinct tracks for seeking disclosure from the government. That a FOIA action might lead to the discovery of documents useful to a particular criminal defendant changes neither the government’s statutorily defined obligations under FOIA, nor the government’s burden at summary judgment. We therefore AFFIRM the district court. Michael Kuzma, Law Office of Michael Kuzma, Buffalo, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant. Daniel Tenny and David L. Peters, for Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Washington, D.C., and 2 for Trini E. Ross, United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, Buffalo, NY, for Defendant-Appellee. PER CURIAM: In 2016, a federal jury found Steve Satar Jabar guilty of wire fraud and related charges stemming from his misuse of thousands of dollars from a United Nations grant. One month after the guilty verdict, Jabar asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to turn over all documents related to him under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, speculating that they might include exculpatory information that the government had not disclosed in his criminal trial. While awaiting a response, Jabar filed this FOIA action against the United States Department of Justice, of which the FBI is a part. The government eventually produced 21 sets of responsive documents and an index detailing FOIA exemptions under which it withheld other responsive …
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