STIPULATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER RE: DISCOVERY OF FINANCIAL, TAX, AND PERSONAL IDENTITY INFORMATION

VINCE CHHABRIA, District Judge.

This case involves allegations that the Defendant committed bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344; aggravated identity theft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1028A; and money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957. More specifically, the indictment alleges that the defendant used personal identifying information of a third party to obtain fraudulent loans. The discovery in this case will include confidential financial, tax and other personal information of third parties, including but not limited to: (1) Social Security numbers; (2) financial and bank records of the alleged victim; (3) tax information; and (4) personal identity information (including, for example, names, dates of birth, and driver's license numbers) (hereinafter referred to as "Confidential Information").

Because of the substantial amount of discovery, including discovery containing Confidential Information, that will be produced in this case, and pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(d), the parties stipulate that all prior and future disclosure of discovery is subject to the following restrictions:

1. Except when being actively examined for the purpose of the preparation of the defense, all discovery produced by the United States shall be maintained in an area that is accessible only to defense counsel or other attorneys and employees of defense counsel's law office. Defense counsel shall not permit any person access of any kind to the discovery except as set forth below.

2. The following individuals may examine the discovery for the purpose of preparing the defense:

3. A copy of this Order shall be maintained with the discovery at all times. Counsel will advise all members of the defense team, the defendant, and any outside expert of the limitations on use of discovery and provide them with a copy of this Order.

4. Absent further Order of this Court, documents produced in discovery may not be provided to witnesses. However, as part of preparing a defense, the defense team may show documents produced in discovery, including documents containing Confidential Information, to witnesses. To the extent practicable, when showing documents containing Confidential Information to witnesses, the defense team shall take efforts to limit disclosure of Confidential Information, e.g., redacting those sections of the document that do not need to be shown to a witness. The defense team shall keep a list of witnesses to whom disclosure of Confidential Information was made and the date on which disclosure was made.

5. All pleadings filed in the above-captioned case will comply with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1 regarding redaction of certain identifying information. Further, all trial exhibits shall be redacted to ensure that no Confidential Information is publicly filed or displayed in court. Further, any exhibits used at trial or pre-trial hearings shall be redacted to ensure that no Confidential Information is publicly filed or displayed in court.

6. Within 30 days of the judgment and sentencing hearing(s) in this matter, or within 30 days of any other resolution of the charges, all material provided to defense counsel pursuant to this Order, and all other authorized copies, if any, shall be returned to the United States. If an appeal is noticed and the undersigned defense counsel continue to represent the Defendants on appeal, said defense counsel may continue to retain possession of the materials according to the terms of this Order until 30 days after the conclusion of the matter in the Court of Appeals, at which point all materials produced by the United States and any authorized copies shall be returned to counsel for the United States. As an alternative to return of the materials produced and any copies, defense counsel may instead destroy the materials produced and any copies, and send a letter to counsel for the United States certifying that all such documents have been destroyed in accordance with the terms of this Order.

SO ORDERED.