(CNN) A federal judge in New York is urging the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility to conduct a review into the US attorney's office in Manhattan's handling of the prosecution of an Iranian businessman accused of violating US sanctions laws due to the "systemic nature of the errors and misconduct that occurred in this case." Judge Alison Nathan said she did not find that any individual prosecutors knowingly withheld exculpatory evidence or intentionally misled the court, but she was urging the review in Washington in hopes it "will ensure that the Government's errors in this case are not repeated." She added that even in a recent review of documents prosecutors "astonishingly" reported another "failure of disclosure in this case related to the FBI's review of raw state search-warrant returns." The judge said she would also make public prosecutor declarations, exhibits and letters, stating, "The prosecutorial misconduct in this case is of exceptional public interest, bearing both on the fair administration of justice for criminal defendants and the efficacious prosecution of violations of federal law." Still, the judge said that she remains convinced that the failures in the case "represent grave derelictions of prosecutorial responsibility."

Source: CNN February 18, 2021 03:11 UTC