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“Varsity Blues” Defendants Say Wiretap Flouted Law


Water Polo Team
 

Former University of Southern California (USC) water polo coach and Larson LLP client Jovan Vavic and his co-defendant in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions case filed a brief alleging that “the government illegally asked AT&T to continue tapping the phone of scheme mastermind Rick Singer after a court order expired,” Law360 reported.

Mr. Vavic and former USC athletics official Donna Heinel asked U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani “to suppress five months’ worth of wiretaps from their upcoming November trial . . . According to the brief, a court order allowing AT&T to tap [Mr.] Singer’s iPhone expired in September 2018, around the same time he agreed to start cooperating with investigators. The government then sent AT&T a letter stating that [Mr.] Singer had consented to continued monitoring, and the telecom company kept recording his calls with college employees through March 2019,” Law360 summarized.

In the brief, Mr. Vavic and Ms. Heinel said “these five months of tapped calls flew in the face of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which requires a judge’s permission for a private carrier to conduct wiretaps—whether or not the phone’s owner has consented.” 

Partners Stephen G. Larson, Kori L. Bell, and Paul A. Rigali are representing Mr. Vavic.

Read the full article by Rachel Sharf of Law360 covering the brief here.

 
 

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