USA v. Harris, et al.

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United States District Court
Northern District of California
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
DEVON CHRISTOPHER WENGER,
Defendant.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff,
v.
DEVON CHRISTOPHER WENGER,
Defendant.
Case No. 23-cr-00268-JSW-2
SECOND ORDER REQUIRING
SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATIONS
REGARDING NOTICE RE
PROTECTIVE ORDER VIOLATIONS
Re: Dkt. No. 241
Case No. 23-cr-00269-JSW-3
Re: Dkt. No. 622
This matter comes before the Court upon consideration of the Government’s notices
regarding apparent violations of the Protective Orders that govern in these cases. The Protective
Orders specifically provide that “materials provided pursuant to this protective order may only be
used for the specific purpose of preparing or presenting a defense in this matter unless specifically
authorized by the Court.” The Government has submitted evidence of materials that are covered
by the Protective Orders that were published in an article on a website.1 The Court did not
authorize the use of the materials in question and those materials were not used to prepare or
1 	The Court will not include the title of the article or the website in this Order. It is
contained in the Government’s under seal brief.
Case 4:23-cr-00268-JSW Document 267 Filed 01/14/26 Page 1 of 2

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United States District Court
Northern District of California
present Mr. Wenger’s defense in court. The responses from Mr. Wenger do not dispute that
materials covered by the Protective Order appear in the article.
To further develop the record, the Court issued an order requiring each of Mr. Wenger’s
former counsel to submit a declaration to the Court addressing the questions in the Government’s
notices. The Court permitted counsel to file those declarations under seal and ex parte, pending
further Order of the Court. The Court Ordered former counsel to file those declarations by no later
than December 17, 2025. However, the Court did not direct that the Order be served on former
counsel. The Court did receive a response from former counsel Candice L. Fields, who was co-
counsel with David Fischer. Based on that response, the Court will not require a declaration from
Mr. Fischer at this time.
The Court issues this Order to require a declaration from former counsel Nicole Lopes
regarding the following questions addressed in the Government’s notice: (1) whether she allowed
Wenger unsupervised access to any protected discovery materials; (2) whether she provided any
protected discovery materials to Wenger without redactions or other protections mandated by the
Protective Order; (3) whether she provided any protected discovery to the website,
“thecurrentreport.com” or any other third parties and, if so, which third parties; and (4) whether
any discovery materials were used for any purpose other than preparing or presenting a defense in
this manner. Ms. Lopes shall file this declaration under seal and ex parte by no later than February
6, 2026. Once the Court has received Ms. Lopes’ declaration, it will either require further briefing
or will set a hearing to address the Government’s request.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
______________________________________
JEFFREY S. WHITE
United States District Judge
Dated: January 14, 2026
Case 4:23-cr-00268-JSW Document 267 Filed 01/14/26 Page 2 of 2