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MICHAEL BAILEY

United States Attorney

District of Arizona

KEVIN M. RAPP (Ariz. Bar No. 014249, kevin.rapp@usdoj.gov)

MARGARET PERLMETER (Ariz. Bar No. 024805, margaret.perlmeter@usdoj.gov)

PETER S. KOZINETS (Ariz. Bar No. 019856, peter.kozinets@usdoj.gov) 

ANDREW C. STONE (Ariz. Bar No. 026543, andrew.stone@usdoj.gov)

Assistant U.S. Attorneys

40 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1800

Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408

Telephone (602) 514-7500

DAN G. BOYLE (N.Y. Bar No. 5216825, daniel.boyle2@usdoj.gov) 

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

312 N. Spring Street, Suite 1400 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Telephone (213) 894-2426

BRIAN C. RABBITT 

Assistant Attorney General 

Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice

REGINALD E. JONES (Miss. Bar No. 102806, reginald.jones4@usdoj.gov) 

Senior Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section 

950 Pennsylvania Ave N.W., Room 2116

Washington, D.C. 20530

Telephone (202) 616-2807 

Attorneys for Plaintiff

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

United States of America,

Plaintiff, 

v. 

Michael Lacey, et al.,

Defendants.

No. CR-18-422-PHX-SMB

UNITED STATES’ NOTICE RE: 

DECEMBER 4, 2020 TELEPHONIC 

MOTION HEARING ON 

DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STAY 

(Doc. 1092)

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At Friday’s hearing, the topic arose of whether the August 16, 2017 letter from the 

National Association of Attorneys General to Congress was part of the government’s 

discovery in this case.1 Defendants previously suggested that it was. (See Doc. 1071-2 at 

5, Joint Decl. ¶ 5.) However, at the hearing, defense counsel stated it was not. Undersigned 

counsel responded that he thought the letter had been included, but that he would reach out 

to colleagues to confirm. The United States now writes to inform the Court that, after 

double-checking, the August 2017 letter does not appear in the post-indictment discovery.

Nevertheless, as argued at the hearing, whether the letter was included is immaterial. 

The Joint Declaration submitted by six defense counsel admitted that some of Defendants’

lawyers were aware in April 2018 (at the start of this case, and before any discovery 

commenced) of the series of Attorney Generals’ letters of which the August 2017 letter 

was a part, but that they had not “focused on” the August 2017 letter or the fact that AG 

Brnovich had signed it. (See Doc. 1071-2 at 4, Joint. Decl. ¶ 5.)2 Further, the Joint 

Declaration was signed only by six of Defendants’ 17 counsel of record. The nonsignatories include three lawyers from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, which represented 

Backpage, some Defendants, and other Backpage officers in scores of matters over the last 

decade in, inter alia, disputes with Congress and numerous state attorneys general. (Doc. 

1072, Mot. to Strike at 6.) The declaration also was not signed by any Defendants, who 

themselves have been highly attuned to such correspondence. (Doc. 1067, Resp. at 5-6.).

/ /

 

1 The letter is attached to Defendants’ Motion for Recusal. (Doc. 1059-10, Ex. 9 at 1-7.)

2 The letter has long been publicly-available on the National Association of Attorneys Generals’ website. https://www.naag.org/policy-letter/attorneys-general-ask-for-simple- amendment-to-federal-law-to-fight-sex-trafficking/ (clicking “view letter” leads to https://1li23g1as25g1r8so11ozniw-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp- content/uploads/2020/10/CDA-Final-Letter.pdf).

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Respectfully submitted this 8th day of December, 2020.

MICHAEL BAILEY

United States Attorney

District of Arizona

s/ Peter S. Kozinets

KEVIN M. RAPP

MARGARET PERLMETER

PETER S. KOZINETS

ANDREW C. STONE

Assistant U.S. Attorneys

DAN G. BOYLE

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney

BRIAN C. RABBITT 

Assistant Attorney General 

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division

REGINALD E. JONES

Senior Trial Attorney

U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division

Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on December 8, 2020, I electronically transmitted the attached 

document to the Clerk’s Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a 

Notice of Electronic Filing to the CM/ECF registrants who have entered their appearance 

as counsel of record.

s/ Joy Faraj Joy Faraj

U.S. Attorney’s Office

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