My Son Got a Federal Target Letter

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of federal target letters from a parent's perspective - not the sanitized version other attorneys present, not the legal jargon that leaves you more confused, but the actual truth about what happens when your child becomes a target of federal investigation and what your instincts to help might actually do to both of you.

You found this article because someone you raised, someone you would do anything to protect, just received a letter that changed everything. That letter sits on a kitchen table somewhere right now, and you're trying to figure out what it means and what you can do. The answer is more complicated than you want it to be - because the instinct that makes you a good parent is exactly what federal prosecutors count on.

Here is what nobody else will tell you: there is no parent-child privilege in federal court. Unlike spousal privilege, which protects husbands and wives from being forced to testify against each other, the law provides no such protection for the bond between you and your child. Every conversation you have, every text you send, every piece of advice you give can be subpoenaed, recorded, and used as evidence. The more you try to help, the more ammunition you may be handing to the people trying to put your child in prison.

The Call That Changes Everything

The phone rings. Maybe its late at night, maybe its during a normal Wednesday afternoon. Your adult child - the one you taught to ride a bike, helped through college, watched build a life - is on the other end. Their voice sounds different. They've recieved something from the Department of Justice. A target letter.

In that moment, every parental instinct activates. You want to fix this. You want to ask questions. You want to know everything that happened. You want to tell them its going to be okay. You want to get on a plane, show up at there door, sit down at the kitchen table and figure this out together like you've figured out every problem since they were five years old.

Heres the thing most parents dont understand in that moment: the investigation that led to this letter has likely been running for eight to eighteen months already. While your son was going to work, paying bills, living his life, federal agents were interviewing witnesses, gathering documents, and building a case. The letter isnt the beginning of the problem. Its closer to the end.

What That Letter Actually Means

A federal target letter is formal notification from the United States Attorney's Office that your child is the target - not a witness, not a subject, but a target - of a federal criminal investigation. The Department of Justice uses specific language, and that language matters. Being called a "target" means prosecutors have substantial evidence linking your child to potential federal crimes.

The letter itself typically identifies the investigation, lists the potential criminal statutes being considered, and often invites the target to appear before a grand jury. Some letters include an invitation to meet with prosecutors - what sounds like an opportunity to "tell your side" is actualy a carefully orchestrated chance for the government to gather more evidence. The target letter isnt a warning shot. Its closer to the government saying "we've already built our case, and now we're required to tell you before we finalize it."

Understand this clearly: the government was not required to send this letter. Many people are indicted without any advance notice whatsoever. The fact that your child received a letter could mean prosecutors are still gathering information, considering their options, or looking for cooperation. It could also mean they're simply following DOJ policy before an indictment thats already been decided.

Let me be direct with you about the numbers. Grand juries in federal court indict in 99.99% of cases. Thats not a typo. Out of 162,000 federal cases in one recent year, grand juries declined to indict in exactly eleven. The grand jury process is completly one-sided - the prosecutor presents evidence, theres no defense attorney in the room, no cross-examination, no objections. They hear only what the government wants them to hear.

Once indicted, the federal conviction rate hovers around 93%. Almost everyone who faces federal charges either pleads guilty or is convicted at trial. This isnt meant to terrify you - its meant to make you understand that the government doesnt send target letters casually. By the time that letter arrives in your childs mailbox, prosecutors have already decided they have a case. The question is what happens in the next 30 to 45 days.

The Parent Trap: How Your Instincts Become Evidence

This is were it gets complicated, and its the part that seperates this article from every other target letter article you'll read tonight.

Your instinct right now is to talk. To call your child and ask what happened. To discuss strategy. To help them remember details. To maybe even suggest what they should or shouldnt say to investigators. This instinct - this completely natural, completely understandable parental response - is precisely what federal prosecutors are counting on.

Parent-child communications are not privileged in federal court. Every phone call you make to your child can be recorded. Every text can be subpoenaed. Every email can be produced in discovery. And heres what makes this particuarly dangerous: if your child's phone has been tapped as part of the investigation (a standard tool in federal cases), those conversations may have already been recorded for months before the target letter arrived.

Think about that. The panicked call your child made to you after opening that letter? If their phone was tapped, its already in a file somewhere. Whatever you said in response, whatever questions you asked, whatever reassurances you gave - all of it is potentially evidence. And its not just the conversations after the letter. If the wiretap has been running for months, investigators may already have recordings of casual family discussions that now take on a completley different meaning.

As Todd Spodek explains to clients facing these situations, the most dangerous words a parent can say are some variation of "lets get our story straight" or "dont tell them about..." Those words, captured on a recording, transform a loving parent into a federal obstruction defendant.

Three Things That Will Definately Make This Worse

Heres were parents most commonly destory their childrens cases and sometimes their own futures:

1. Discussing Case Details Over Phone or Text

Its not just that these conversations can be subpoenaed. Its that they probly already are being monitored. Federal wiretap authorization allows interception of communications for 30-day periods with extensions, and targets are never notified during the investigation. Every time you call your child to ask "what really happened" or offer advice about what to say, you're potentially creating evidence.

The conversation doesnt even have to be explicitly about obstruction. Prosecutors are skilled at taking emotional family discussions and reframing them as consciousness of guilt. "Mom said I should just tell them the truth about everything" sounds innocent - until a prosecutor asks the jury why you felt the need to tell your child to be truthful if they werent considering being untruthful.

2. Contacting Witnesses or Other People Involved

You know some of your childs friends. Maybe you know people involved in whatever situation led to this investigation. The temptation to reach out, to explain, to smooth things over - its overwhelming for parents. Dont do it.

Contact with witnesses is witness tampering under 18 USC 1512, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years. It doesnt matter that your intentions were good. It doesnt matter that you werent trying to get anyone to lie. The mere act of contacting a witness in a federal investigation to discuss the case can result in you - the parent trying to help - facing your own federal charges.

Cooperating witnesses often report any contact from the target's family directly to prosecutors. What you think is a friendly conversation to "understand what happened" becomes documented evidence of attempted witness tampering.

3. Financial Missteps When Paying for Defense

Your child needs a lawyer. A good federal criminal defense attorney might require a $50,000 retainer or more. You want to help. Of course you do.

How you help matters enormously. Large cash withdrawls or unusual wire transfers trigger Suspicious Activity Reports from banks - these are automaticaly filed for transactions over $10,000 or unusual patterns. If prosecutors are already looking at your childs finances, a sudden large payment from a family member gets scrutinized. Depending on the underlying charges, your financial help could be characterized as money laundering.

This dosent mean you cant help pay for defense. It means you need to do it correctly, transparently, and ideally with guidance from an attorney about how to structure the payment. Wire transfers with clear memo lines documenting "legal fees for [name]" are generaly safer then cash. But even this should be discussed with counsel first.

The Martha Stewart case remains the most famous example of how the cover-up becomes worse then the crime. Stewart wasnt ultimately convicted of insider trading - she was convicted of obstruction and lying to investigators. Her attempts to manage the situation, to control the narrative, created federal felonies where the underlying conduct might not have resulted in charges. Parents trying to "manage" their childs situation face the exact same risk.

What You Can Actually Do Without Creating New Problems

After reading the last section, you might feel paralyzed. Everything you want to do seems dangerous. But there are things you can do - things that actually help rather then hurt.

Emotional Support That Stays General

You can still be a parent. You can still say "I love you" and "we will get through this together" and "I'm here for you." What you cant do is ask questions about the case or offer advice about what to say. The distinction matters legally.

"I love you and I know you're scared, but I think we should wait to talk about specifics until you have a lawyer" is a sentence that helps. "Tell me everything that happened" is a sentence that could destroy both of you.

Finding the Right Attorney

The single most valuable thing you can do is help your child find an experienced federal criminal defense attorney - not a general practitioner, not a state court defender, but someone who specifically handles federal cases. At Spodek Law Group, we handle federal matters across the country and understand the particular dynamics of target letters.

Federal practice is different. The rules are different. The judges are different. The consequences are different. An attorney who is excellent in state court may be dangerously inexperienced in federal court.

Protecting Yourself

This is the uncomfortable part. You may need your own attorney. Not because you did anything wrong, but because you might be subpoenaed to testify against your own child. Understanding your rights - what you can be compelled to answer, what privileges might apply to specific communications, what your exposure might be - requires your own legal counsel.

Heres something parents never want to consider: in federal cases, prosecutors sometimes threaten to charge family members as leverage to obtain cooperation. "We could indict your mother for obstruction" is a powerful tool to pressure a target into pleading guilty or providing information against others. This isnt hypothetical - its a documented prosecutorial tactic. Having your own attorney means you understand your exposure and cant be used as easily as leverage against your child.

The Elephant in the Room: Can You Be Forced to Testify?

The answer is almost certainly yes. Unlike spouses, parents have no federal privilege protecting them from being compelled to testify against their children. If you receive a grand jury subpoena, you will be required to appear. You will be required to answer questions. The Fifth Amendment protects you from incriminating yourself - not from incriminating your child.

This means every conversation you've had with your child about this investigation could become testimony. Not might. Could. And refusing to answer questions about your child (as opposed to refusing to answer questions that might incriminate you personally) can result in contempt of court.

Some parents assume they can simply "not remember" things or give vague answers. Federal prosecutors and FBI agents have built careers on identifying inconsistent testimony. Lying to a grand jury is perjury - a federal felony. Lying to federal agents during an interview is a violation of 18 USC 1001 - the same charge that has brought down countless people who thought they could talk there way out of trouble.

The only safe approach is to have your own attorney review your situation before you receive any subpoena, so you understand exacty what your rights are and what exposure you might face.

The Timeline Nobody Explains

What happens between receiving a target letter and potential indictment? The timeline varies, but heres what typically occurs:

In the first 30-45 days, your childs attorney will likely attempt to make contact with the prosecutor. This is the negotiation window. The attorney might argue that charges shouldnt be filed, present evidence the government hasnt seen, or begin discussions about cooperation or reduced charges. This window is critical and its one reason why getting an attorney immediatley matters so much.

The government isnt required to wait, though. They can seek indictment at any time. Some prosecutors send target letters because they genuinely want to hear from the target before making a final decision. Others send them as a formality before indictment thats already been decided.

Heres the reality of how this works from a defense perspective: the letter itself tells you very little about where things stand. The prosecutor's response to your childs attorney's outreach tells you much more. If the AUSA is willing to meet, discuss the case, hear arguments - that suggests genuine room for negotiation. If the response is "we'll let you know when the indictment is filed," the decision has likely already been made.

When You Need Your Own Lawyer

This is the part of the article nobody wants to write and nobody wants to read.

If you are a parent of a federal target, there is a non-zero chance that you will be subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. There is a non-zero chance that you will be asked questions about conversations with your child, about financial transactions, about what you knew and when you knew it. There is even a non-zero chance - especialy if you've already said or done things covered earlier in this article - that you could face your own charges.

You cannot be represented by your childs attorney. The conflicts of interest are obvious. You need seperate counsel if there is any chance you might be drawn into this investigation.

The questions you need answered are your own: What are my rights if subpoenaed? What questions must I answer? Is there any privilege that protects my communications? Have I done anything that creates personal exposure? What should I say if federal agents contact me directly?

At Spodek Law Group, we've seen families navigate these situations. Sometimes the parent's role stays firmly in the "support from the sidelines" category. Sometimes parents become witnesses. Sometimes - and this is the nightmare scenario everyone wants to avoid - parents become defendants themselves because they tried too hard to help.

The Path Forward

Your child has recieved a federal target letter. Your world feels like its ending. I understand that feeling - Ive sat across from hundreds of parents in your exact situation.

Heres what I need you to understand: this is survivable. Federal target letters are not convictions. They are not sentences. They are opportunities - ugly, terrifying opportunities, but opportunities nonetheless. The 30-45 day window after a target letter is often the only chance your child will have to influence the outcome before charges are filed.

What determines success in that window isnt parental love. Its professional legal representation. Its strategic decisions made by an attorney who understands federal practice. Its knowing when to speak and when to stay silent.

The instinct screaming inside you right now - the one telling you to do something, anything, to protect your child - you need to redirect it. Channel it into finding the right attorney. Channel it into supporting your child emotionally without discussing the case. Channel it into protecting yourself so you can be there for them through whatever comes next.

The clock started when your child opened that letter. Use the time wisely.

If your family is facing a federal target letter situation, Spodek Law Group can help. We handle federal criminal matters nationwide and understand both the legal complexities and the family dynamics these situations create. The consultation is confidential. The situation is urgent.

Call 212-300-5196.