justice department

Student Loan Discharges Approved In 99% Of Cases Under New Policy

The Biden administration this week released highly-anticipated data on a new initiative that makes it easier for borrowers experiencing hardships to discharge their student loans in bankruptcy.

The Education Department and the Department of Justice rolled out experimental guidance last fall to encourage cooperation between the government and student loan borrowers seeking bankruptcy relief. After a year, the program is showing clear signs of success.

“One year ago, we set out to simplify and improve the process for student loan borrowers in bankruptcy,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in a statement on Thursday. “I am thrilled that our one-year review indicates that our efforts have made a real difference in borrowers’ lives by ensuring student-loan discharges are more accessible to eligible borrowers. We will continue working with our partners at the

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November 28, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Biden Administration Makes It Easier To Have Debt Discharged Through Bankruptcy
AL DRAGO / POOL / EPA-EFE

AL DRAGO / POOL / EPA-EFE

While certain student loan borrowers can use the bankruptcy process to have their loans discharged, the process has been very cumbersome — but this might change thanks to new guidelines.

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In January, the Justice Department updated the attestation form that borrowers must complete to seek bankruptcy discharge of their federal student loans, Forbes reported. These changes include “tweaks to the reporting of monthly household income, clarifying instructions regarding when a borrower needs to provide additional information, new questions seeking details on whether a school closure impacted a borrower’s ability to repay their student loans, and more detailed information on a borrower’s student loan repayment, deferment, forbearance, and consolidation history.”

In addition, the updates stated that if the borrower is disabled, the disability does not have to be “permanent,” only “chronic” to potentially be a basis for a bankruptcy discharge.

This comes on the heels of the Department of Justice (DOJ), in conjunction with the Department of Education, issuing new guidance to simplify the process and establish standards for borrowers who seek

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March 23, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Ex-Trump DOJ lawyer Jeffrey Clark hit with legal ethics charges over post-election role

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department attorney at the center of former President Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, was hit Friday with ethics charges alleging that his role in the post-election effort amounted to a breach of legal ethics.

The charges, filed by the District of Columbia Bar Office of Disciplinary Counsel, sets in motion disciplinary proceedings over allegations that Clark engaged in dishonest conduct and sought to interfere with the administration of justice and will culminate in findings that could affect Clark’s D.C. law license.

Clark, who specialized in environmental law at the Justice Department, clark-draft-letter.html”attempted to send a letter to Georgia officials pushing the state to suspend certification of its 2020 election results until the Justice Department investigated fraud claims, despite agency leaders saying such claims were without merit.

After former Attorney General William Barr resigned in December 2020, Clark pushed Trump to nominate him to lead the Justice Department and pursue the president’s false election claims.

Clark said that if selected as acting attorney general he would send the letter to state legislatures, despite warnings from fellow Justice Department lawyers about incorrect information.

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July 28, 2022 by LAW

Opinion | ‘Detached From Reality’ Is Trump’s Best Defense at This Point

One potential charge that is getting a lot of attention on social media is conspiracy to defraud the United States, which would require the Department of Justice to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump agreed with others to obstruct a lawful function of the government by deceitful or dishonest means. I’ve charged that statute before when I was a federal prosecutor in the context of a dishonest tax avoidance scheme.

At the core of any fraud prosecution is proving the defendant’s dishonesty and intent to defraud beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s why Trump’s state of mind — in particular, proof regarding whether he believed what he was peddling — is so important. And why his rather complicated state of mind presents serious problems for prosecutors.

Some have suggested that prosecutors can sidestep this problem by relying on a willful or deliberate ignorance theory. In certain circumstances, the law recognizes that a defendant’s deliberate attempts to avoid knowledge of an incriminating fact demonstrates their knowledge of that fact. For example, if someone approaches you a few miles from the U.S. border and offers you $5,000 to drive a U-Haul across the border, your deliberate refusal to look at what’s

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June 24, 2022 by LEGAL
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