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State Attorney General Witnesses

"State Attorney General Witnesses" refers to individuals who provide information to a State Attorney General's Office (an "AG"). In some States, criminal prosecutors offices like District Attorneys' Offices, are part of the State Attorney General's Office. Sometimes people refer to the District Attorneys' Offices as the AG. Most often, though, "AG" is used to refer to the statewide Attorney General's Office (or the statewide prosecutor's office if it goes by a different name), as opposed to a local District Attorney's Office or other local prosecutor's office.

Each State has its own laws and rules concerning investigations by its Attorney General's Office. Those rules may be quite different from one State to another.

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Sometimes people reach out to a State Attorney General's Office on their own because they have information about a crime that they think the AG should know about. Other times, the AG may ask someone to talk to it over the telephone or to come in to the AG's offices to talk about something. Depending on which State the AG's Office is in, this request may be made by a lawyer who works for the AG, often called an Assistant Attorney General, or it may be made by a police officer or an agent of some other State investigatory agency that is working with the Assistant Attorney General.

"State Attorney General witness" usually means someone who may have information about a crime under that State's laws. But that is not always the case. Sometimes the AG thinks a person might have some information, but it is not certain. For example, this sometimes happens when the AG's Office is investigating something and wants to talk to everyone who worked in a company, office, or department to find out who, if anyone, may know something about what the AG thinks happened.

A State Attorney General witness may be a person who did nothing wrong but who came across some information that one or more other people may have commited a crime. A State Attorney General witness may also be someone who may have committed or helped others to commit a crime; such people are sometimes referred to as "subjects" or "targets" of an investigation. A "subject" of an investigation usually means someone who the AG thinks may or may not have committed a crime, but it cannot be certain without more information. "Target" is usually used to refer to someone who the AG thinks actually did commit a crime, based on information that it has at the time. Someone who admits that they did something wrong and agrees to help the AG in its investigation of the crime may be referred to as a "cooperating witness". All of these people are technically State Attorney General witnesses or potential State Attorney General witnesses.

Over the course of an AG's investigation, someone who the AG initially believes may be just a witness may come to be viewed as a "subject" or a "target". Likewise, someone who the AG initially believes may be a potential "subject" or "target" may come to be viewed as just an innocent witness.

Depending on the State, when someone talks to the AG the conversation may be done informally over the telephone or in the AG's offices, and one or more Assistant Attorneys General or agents of some other state investigatory agency may take handwritten notes of what is said. Also depending on the State, the witness may or may not be sworn in under oath to tell the truth, and the meeting may or may not be recorded word-for-word in an official transcript. In some States it may be a separate crime or misdemeanor in-and-of-itself to knowingly make a false statement to an Asssistant Attorney General or other State agent during that conversation.

If you would like information about The Pickholz Law Offices' experience representing State Attorney General Witnesses, or those who believe that they may become State Attorney General witnesses, please feel free to click on the "Our Cases & Results" link and the other links on the right side of this page.

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The Pickholz Law Offices represents U.S. and international clients in securities and white collar cases. The Firm has helped whistleblowers report frauds to the SEC, CFTC, and IRS, and has defended clients in investigations by the SEC, CFTC, DOJ, FINRA, and other financial and securities enforcement regulators.

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