Queens Federal Defense Lawyer
Welcome to Spodek Law Group. Our goal is to give you the reality of facing federal criminal charges in Queens - not the sanitized version other lawyers present, not the TV courtroom fiction, but the actual truth about what happens when the federal government decides to make you a target.
Here is what nobody tells you about federal cases in Queens: by the time you learn you're under investigation, the government has probably been building your case for 18 to 24 months. They already have your bank records. They have your emails. They have testimony from people you thought were friends. The investigation you just discovered? It started before you had any idea anything was wrong. And the 93% conviction rate in federal court isn't because federal prosecutors are smarter than state prosecutors. It's because they don't bring cases they're not certain they will win.
This is the fundamental asymmetry that destroys people who don't understand it. You are playing catch-up in a game where the other side has been preparing for two years. Every day you wait to hire a federal defense lawyer is another day the gap between what they know and what you know gets wider.
The Secret Investigation You Dont Know About
Most Queens residents who end up facing federal charges share one terrible realization. They had no idea they were being investigated until it was almost too late. Heres the thing - federal investigations dont announce themselves. There's no knock on the door, no phone call, no warning. For months or years, FBI agents, IRS investigators, or DEA agents have been collecting evidence. They've been interviewing your employees, your competitors, your former business partners. They've subpoenaed your financial records from banks who never told you about it becuase federal law prohibits them from doing so.
Think about what that means for a moment. Your accountant might have already handed over five years of tax returns. Your phone company probably provided call logs going back three years. Your email provider gave them access to messages you thought were deleted. And the whole time, you were going about your life in Queens thinking everything was fine.
The government uses grand jury subpoenas to gather this evidence. Grand juries meet in secret. The targets of their investigations are not notified. The witnesses who testify are often prohibited from telling you they appeared. By the time you recieve that target letter in the mail - that formal notice that you are the focus of a federal criminal investigation - the case against you is basicly already built.
Let that sink in.
The First 72 Hours After Federal Agents Appear
When FBI agents show up at your door in Astoria or knock on your business in Flushing, the choices you make in those first 72 hours will shape everything that follows. Most people get this completly wrong. They panic. They try to be helpful. They answer questions thinking they can explain away whatever misunderstanding brought federal agents to their doorstep.
Every federal defense attorney has seen this scenario dozens of times. A Queens business owner gets a knock on the door. Two agents flash badges. They say they just want to ask a few questions. Theyre friendly, conversational, unthreatening. The business owner thinks "I have nothing to hide, so why not cooperate?" And then they talk.
Those conversations are recorded. Sometimes literally - agents often have recording devices. Always figuratively - agents write detailed reports called 302s immediately after every interview. And those 302s become evidence. Every word you said, filtered through the agents interpretation, becomes part of the governments case.
Heres what happens next. Your "voluntary" statements give prosecutors probable cause to obtain more warrants. Now they can search your office. Now they can subpoena your computer. Now they can interview your employees who are scared and willing to say whatever the agents want to hear. The investigation expands because you helped them expand it.
The right answer when federal agents appear is simple. You say nothing except this: "I want to speak with my attorney before answering any questions." You take their card. You close the door. You call a federal defense lawyer immediatly.
Is this uncomfortable? Absolutly. Does it feel like your hiding something? To them, maybe. But agents already suspected you of something before they knocked on your door. Your silence protects you. Your words convict you.
This is the first lesson of federal criminal defense: everything you say will be used against you. The right to remain silent is not just a formality. Its your most powerful weapon.
Why Queens Cases Go to Brooklyn Federal Court
If your facing federal charges based on conduct in Queens, your case will be heard in the Eastern District of New York, commonly called EDNY. The main courthouse is at 225 Cadman Plaza East in Brooklyn. The U.S. Attorney's Office sits across the plaza at 271 Cadman Plaza East. This matters more then you might think.
EDNY isnt just another courthouse. In fiscal year 2024, the Eastern District of New York reported 727 cases to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The district serves over eight million people across Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau County, and Suffolk County. It houses major international airports (JFK and LaGuardia) and one of the busiest seaports in America. This creates a unique mix of federal prosecution priorities that directly affects Queens residents.
The Criminal Division of EDNY has one of the Justice Department's most active and sophisticated national security programs. They prosecute international terrorism, weapons proliferation, counter-espionage, and cybersecurity crimes. But they also handle the white-collar cases that catch Queens business owners - market manipulation, corporate fraud, securities fraud, health care fraud, mortgage fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. The Organized Crime and Gangs Section has prosecuted hundreds of La Cosa Nostra members and dismantled violent street gang sets of the Bloods, Crips, MS-13, and Folk Nation.
OK so why does any of this matter to you? Because your not facing some overworked public prosecutor juggling 200 cases. Your facing specialists. The Business and Securities Fraud Section regulary partners with the IRS, SEC, and multiple regulatory agencies. They've been doing this for decades. They have institutional knowledge about how to build cases, how to flip witnesses, and how to secure convictions. When Todd Spodek talks about understanding EDNY, this is what he means - knowing the prosecutors, knowing the judges, knowing how this specific courthouse operates.
The Target Letter That Changes Everything
If you've recieved a target letter, you are in the most serious category of federal investigation. There are three categories: witnesses (people with information, not suspected of wrongdoing), subjects (people whose conduct is under investigation but may not be charged), and targets. Targets are people the government believes likely committed a federal offense. If that letter has your name on it, prosecutors have already decided they probably have enough to indict you.
Heres the critical part that most people get wrong: the period between receiving a target letter and being indicted is your ONLY window with real negotiating leverage.
Before indictment, prosecutors haven't fully committed. They havent spent the resources on trial preparation. They havent announced the case publicly. There's still room to negotiate - possibly for reduced charges, possibly for a cooperation agreement, possibly even for the investigation to close without charges. An experienced federal defense attorney like those at Spodek Law Group can sometimes persuade prosecutors to reconsider during this window.
After indictment? The calculus changes completly. Prosecutors have now invested significant time and resources. They've announced the case. Their professional reputation is tied to securing a conviction. The leverage you had? Its gone.
And heres were people destroy themselves: they talk to federal agents before hiring a lawyer. They think cooperation shows innocence. They want to "explain their side." Every federal defense attorney will tell you the same thing - those voluntary statements become the evidence that convicts you. The agents who seemed friendly? They were documenting every word for the prosecution.
Sound familiar?
When Your People Become Their People
This is the part nobody wants to hear. But you need to understand it because its going to happen weather you prepare for it or not.
Federal prosecutors have a weapon that state prosecutors rarely use as effectivley: cooperation agreements. Under Section 5K1.1 of the federal sentencing guidelines, prosecutors can file a motion stating that a defendant provided "substantial assistance" in the investigation or prosecution of another person. When this happens, judges can impose sentences below the mandatory minimums. Sentence reductions of 40%, 50%, even 60% are common for cooperators.
Think about what this creates. Your business partner who you've trusted for 15 years is facing 20 years in federal prison. Prosecutors offer him a deal: testify against you, and we'll recommend 5 years. Maybe less if your testimony is especially helpful. What do you think happens?
I'll tell you what happens. He takes the deal. Everyone takes the deal. The person you thought would never betray you provides emails, text messages, recordings of conversations you had in confidence. Suddenly the prosecution's narrative has you as the "leader" of whatever conspiracy they're alleging. Your partner who actualy committed more criminal acts? He's the cooperating witness. You're the defendant facing decades.
This is how 97% of federal cases end in guilty pleas. Its not that defendants dont want to fight. Its that the system is designed to pressure you from every direction until pleading guilty is the only rational choice. Your own people become instruments of your prosecution.
Notice the pattern?
The mathematics of cooperation are brutal. If five people are involved in an alleged conspiracy, and four of them cooperate against the fifth, that fifth person faces the combined testimony of everyone else. The government dosent need physical evidence when they have four witnesses all telling the same story. And those witnesses have every incentive to exaggerate your role - the more helpful their testimony, the bigger their sentence reduction.
Read that again.
This creates a race to the prosecutors office. The first person to cooperate gets the best deal. The last person gets the worst. And you might not even know the race has started until your the only one left. By then, everyone you trusted has already told prosecutors what they wanted to hear.
In 2024, a Baltimore-based robbery crew traveled to Queens to rob marijuana dealers. Jerome Waters, Calvin Israel, and William Barnett were indicted for robbery, kidnapping, and a fatal shooting. Each faces mandatory life imprisonment if convicted. But watch what happens next - prosecutors will offer deals to get testimony against the others. Someone will take it. Loyalty has limits when your facing life in federal prison.
Federal Sentencing: The Reality Nobody Explains
Queens residents who've only dealt with state court have no idea what federal sentencing actualy looks like. The numbers are shocking when you first see them.
Ryan Mueller from Long Island was sentanced to 22 years in federal prison for distributing fentanyl that caused the death of a retired police officer. Twenty-two years. In February 2025, the DEA announced they had seized aproximately 3.4 million counterfeit pills from Mueller - the largest seizure the DEA New York Division has ever processed. A state court drug case might result in 3-5 years. Federal court meant 22.
This isnt unusual. This is how federal sentancing works.
Federal crimes carry mandatory minimum sentences that tie judges' hands. If you're convicted of certain drug offenses, firearms offenses, or fraud schemes above specific thresholds, the judge has no discretion. The minimum is the minimum. It dosent matter if you're a first-time offender. It dosent matter if you have a family depending on you. It dosent matter if you've been a productive member of your Queens community for decades. The law treats a first-time offender the same as a drug kingpin for purposes of mandatory minimums.
And heres the part that should terrify you: you cannot appeal a sentence that falls within the guidelines. If the mandatory minimum is 10 years and you get 10 years, that sentence is essentially unreviewable.
In November 2024, EDNY unsealed an indictment against Gautam Adani, one of the worlds richest people, charging him and other executives with securities and wire fraud in a multi-billion dollar scheme involving alleged bribes to Indian government officials. If EDNY will charge a billionaire with unlimited legal resources, what makes you think your case is too small or too complicated for them? They have the resources, the expertise, and the institutional will to prosecute anyone.
This is what Todd Spodek and Spodek Law Group deal with every day. Understanding federal sentancing - and more importantly, understanding how to navigate it - requires specific expertise that most criminal defense lawyers simply dont have.
What Queens Immigrants Need to Understand
Queens is one of the most diverse places on Earth. Residents come from every country, speak dozens of languages, and bring their own experiences with law enforcement and courts. Many Queens residents who face federal charges are immigrants - either naturalized citizens, permanent residents, or visa holders. For them, federal charges carry an additional layer of devastation that American-born defendants dont have to consider.
Federal convictions almost always trigger immigration consequences. Even for naturalized citizens, certain crimes can lead to denaturalization proceedings. For green card holders and visa holders, a federal conviction typically means deportation after serving your sentence. You serve 10 years, then you get deported to a country you may have left decades ago. Your family stays here. You go alone.
But heres what makes this even more dangerous for immigrant communities in Queens: many immigrants come from countries were talking to police is normal, were cooperating shows good faith, were refusing to answer questions makes you look guilty. That cultural background becomes a liability in the American federal system.
In America, your right to silence is constitutional. Using it is not evidence of guilt. But immigrants who dont understand this often talk to federal agents thinking they can explain away the misunderstanding. They dont realize that agents are trained to extract admissions, that friendly conversations become 302 reports, that their English language difficulties will be used against them in court.
If your an immigrant facing federal investigation in Queens, you need counsel who understands both the federal criminal system AND the immigration consequences of every decision. A plea that seems reasonable from a criminal standpoint might guarantee your deportation. An experienced federal defense firm like Spodek Law Group evaluates both dimensions before advising on any course of action.
What Happens If You Wait
Every week you delay hiring a federal defense attorney, your situation gets worse. This isnt sales pressure - its how the system actualy works.
During the pre-indictment phase, prosecutors are still gathering evidence. If you've hired experienced counsel like Spodek Law Group, your attorney can sometimes intervene. They can contact the prosecutor, understand the scope of the investigation, potentially negotiate before charges are filed. They can advise you on what NOT to do - which is often more important then what to do. They can identify cooperating witnesses and understand what evidence the government already has.
But if you wait untill after indictment? The discovery process reveals the case is far worse then you imagined. Witnesses you didnt know existed have been talking for months. Documents you forgot about are now exhibits. Your "innocent" statements to investigators have been twisted into admissions. And the prosecutor who might have negotiated pre-indictment now has no reason to offer you anything.
Heres the kicker - not being charged yet might actualy be worse then being charged. It means the investigation is still expanding. It means more people could become targets. Your spouse. Your business partner. Your adult children who work with you. The government is still building, still gathering, still finding new angles.
The pre-indictment window is not infinite. Once it closes, options that existed before dissapear forever.
How Spodek Law Group Approaches Queens Federal Cases
At Spodek Law Group, we understand something that most criminal defense firms dont: federal court is an entirely different world then state court. The rules are different. The prosecutors are different. The culture is different. What works in Queens Criminal Court dosent work in the Eastern District of New York.
When someone contacts us about a potential federal case - wheather they've recieved a target letter, been visited by federal agents, or simply suspect they might be under investigation - our approach begins with understanding exactly were they stand. What agency is investigating? What is the likely scope of the case? Who else might be involved? What evidence already exists?
This intelligence gathering isnt just due diligence. Its the foundation of every strategic decision that follows. Understanding EDNY specifically - its prosecution priorities, its judicial tendancies, its institutional patterns - allows us to provide advice that generic federal defense counsel simply cannot.
We've seen what happens when Queens residents hire state court lawyers who claim they "also do federal." We've seen cases that could have been resolved pre-indictment turn into trials because the attorney didnt know how to engage with federal prosecutors. We've seen clients cooperate when they shouldnt have, stay silent when they should have talked, and make every mistake the government hoped they would make.
The federal system is designed to convict. That is not cynicism - that is the statistical reality of a 93%+ conviction rate. Fighting that system requires specialized knowledge, specific experience, and an understanding of how EDNY actually operates.
The clock started when the investigation started. You just didnt know it. Now you do.
Call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. The pre-indictment window - the only window with real leverage - is closing. Every day you wait is a day the government uses to make their case stronger and your options fewer.
The next 48 hours could determine the next 20 years. How will you use them?
