SDNY COURTHOUSE, June 12 – Far too
much is sealed in the Federal court system. And the courts
do not always make it easy for the press and public to
challenge the sealing and redactions.
Inner City Press which covers
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York most closely frequently gets documents unsealed in
SDNY, from Sam Bankman-Fried's suretors through Michael
Avenatti's financial affidavit seeking free counsel to
multiple filings in the antitrust trial against Live
Nation and Ticketmaster.
But in the case of OneCoin crypto
fraudster Sebastian Greenwood, Inner City Press had to
fight all the way to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,
which in Lee
v. Greenwood invalidated that defendant's sealing of
all of his sentencing letters.
Now in 2026 Inner City Press
has taken its unsealing project nationwide. It has an
unsealing scheduled
in the District of Colorado on June 24; its challenge to
AI music platform Suno's sealing of what it trains on was
docketed
and is pending in the District of Massachusetts.
On June 12, Inner City Press
challenged the attempted total sealing of sentencing
letters in USA v. Rappaport in the District of Maryland.
Judge Matthew J. Maddox to his credit correctly docketed
Inner City Press' challenge, here. What next? Watch this
site.
Footnote on FOIA: In USA v.
Greenwood, the Department of Justice took no position on
Greenwood's sealing. Now DOJ is trying to withhold all of
its Live Nation documents under the Freedom of Information
Act, giving rise to my FOIA complaint in SDNY, Lee v. DOJ
Antitrust Division. I have also recently sued
the Federal Reserve Board under FOIA for withholding all
of its questions to high cost lender Enova, which is
trying to enter banking by buying Grasshopper
Bank.
Court unsealing is the flip side of FOIA.
It is less predictable, and a requester has fewer rights -
but it is faster. The two work well together, as will be
seen in the Live Nation DOJ Tunney Act process.
