The "Defense Equity" Act

September 3, 2023 by Greg Penglis

Introduction:

One of the most important principles of our country is that everyone is innocent, until PROVEN guilty. However, just because you haven’t been convicted and all your due process given, you can still be treated as a criminal, or worse, be a victim of a criminal investigation, even if never proven guilty of anything.

Simply an investigation itself, without any formal charges, can still damage or destroy a person, group, business, or any private entity. The costs of compliance, the presence of federal officers in your place of business, the legal fees, the fear and doubt placed in customers, friends and family, and the stigma that there must be something to the investigation, or why else would the government be investigating, brings about doubt and mistrust that can change lives forever. Therefore, one of the greatest weapons of a government investigation, is the change in perception of the subject to guilty, until proven innocent. That suspicion will always be there, so the subject or subjects of the investigation are never perceived as totally innocent, or beyond any reasonable doubt, ever again.

The effect and power of a government investigation is infinitely magnified when that government came to power illegally, and recognizes no law save for what they make up and want for themselves. Such is the case with the Biden illegal government that came to power in a Coup d’Etat which stole the 2020 Election. The Department of Justice in this criminal regime is being used as a weapon against any challenge to their illegally acquired power. Therefore their investigations have become just as illegal as they are.

When the Executive is allowed by the rest of government, to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate, anyone, and be able to seize, anything, all for their own power, control, and perpetuation, anyone or any entity that challenges their power, or simply says their power is illegitimate, is a potential victim of a federal investigation. Therefore, We the People have to have a way to fight and stop such tyranny.

This applies to all future legal Administrations as well. They all have bureaucrats acting independently as warlords, and the President, even a good one, can’t watch them all. The Congress is always going to have enough aspiring dictators to cover or hide the actions of such bureaucrat authoritarians. Therefore this new law is required, in order to prevent anyone or any entity under a federal investigation from suffering any penalty or loss, before full due process has been exercised, and an actual conviction has been rendered in a court of law.

The way to do this is to pay in advance to anyone under investigation the same total amount that the investigating agency is paying for their own investigation, and in addition to pay for any compliance costs, legal fees, and for any lost revenue due to the investigation itself and any reduction of good will or other loss of customer support.

The goal of this legislation is that no person or other entity should ever suffer or experience any loss because of a federal investigation. Since we are innocent until proven guilty, such guilt must be proven before any loss can be suffered.  

No one should ever have to create a “legal defense fund” to defend against the unlimited power and revenue behind the federal government. This legislation is the great equalizer, such that any citizen, and any other entity in this country, is not only innocent until proven guilty, but is without loss, victimization, stigma, or any other penalty as well.  

Proposed New Law:

Title 18, Chapter 205, New Section 3119: Compliance and Other Costs. Government Liability.

(a) Purpose:

The purpose of this Section is for the government to pay all the costs of: compliance, lost revenue, lost employees, lost customer market share and good will, any and all legal fees, document searches, collections and presentations, consultants, in fact any cost at all to anyone, any company, any organization, any entity at all under any federal investigation, such that any party being investigated suffer no loss at all during the course of, and as a result of, any federal investigations, and all follow up due process up to final conviction.

(b) Defense Equity Payment:

At the very first contact with the subject of an investigation, by electronic, phone, mail, or any other method, before any federal personnel make any personal contact with any person, company, organization, or entity of any kind, a direct deposit known as a Defense Equity Payment shall be made to the main account of the subject of an investigation equal to the total amount spent so far on that investigation, from all sources, for all reasons, including any federal contractors. This amount shall be paid so that the subject of any investigation may begin compliance with and defense against the investigation, without cost to them or their company or other entity. Such payments shall continue monthly throughout the entire investigation.

(c) Compliance Costs:

Any entity subject a federal investigation, in addition to being paid the equal amount spent by the federal government on their investigation, shall bill the investigating agencies or other federal government entities, for any individual or ongoing compliance costs during the entire ongoing investigation. These costs shall include but shall not be limited to: all legal and attorney fees and related legal expenses; any paperwork expenses for research, collection, duplication, and transportation; any hiring of personnel, consultants, or other companies to deal with the investigation; any other expenses incurred as a result of any federal investigation. Compliance costs shall also be paid monthly.

(d) Recouping Lost Revenue:

The previous 12 months of operation of any person or entity subject to a federal investigation shall use this as a benchmark to measure against the revenue acquired during the entire course of any investigation. Should any drop in revenue, customer base, or market share result directly or indirectly from any federal investigation, the difference in revenue from previous months shall be reimbursed on a monthly basis to any person and entity involved in any ongoing investigation.

(e) Continuity:

Regardless of the length of time of any investigation, the number of investigations, the number of personnel involved in the investigation, the number of departments, agencies, or any other government entities involved in any investigation, all compliance payments equal to the total costs from all government sources of the investigation, plus the costs incurred by the subject or subjects of the investigation stated in this Section, shall be made all the way through arrest, trial, final verdict and conviction. Compliance and other cost payments stop only at this point.

(f) Personal Liability:

Anyone or any entity subject to any federal investigation, may bring a lawsuit to any government person, department, agency, or any other division of government, if it appears that the purpose of the investigation is not to prosecute, convict, bring about fines and incarceration, but instead for some other objective. This would include to punish the subject of the investigation, destroy their reputation or career, isolate them from friends and family, drain their funds, destroy their business, drive away their customers, threaten excessive penalties for minor infractions of law or paperwork violations, or by implementing any other tactic or procedure that has a detrimental effect upon the subject of the investigation.

     (1) Political Investigations:

If the subject of a federal investigation determines that the investigation is solely for a political purpose not related to any genuine violation of law, then all government personnel and divisions of government involved shall be personally and organizationally liable to the subject of the investigation.

     (2) Political Incarceration:

Anyone held in custody beyond the constitutional requirement for a speedy trial by a jury of one’s actual peers, they shall have the legal recourse to sue their captors, jailers, and any government personnel that had any part in their extended incarceration, especially if subject to cruel, unusual, or even differential treatment than is customary or in practice for the crimes charged.

     (3) Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence:

Any Department of Justice official, officer, agent, investigator, lawyer, prosecutor, any judge in any proceeding, any person involved in any way with any part of the process, from investigation to conviction, who knowingly withholds anything that would exonerate or help the defense of anyone or any entity under investigation, arrest, custody, or trial, they can be held liable in a lawsuit by any victim of such withholding.

     (4) Conspiracy Against Rights:

Any federal officer, agent, lawyer, or other government employee, who pressures or threatens anyone under investigation, prosecution, or trial, up through final conviction, for the purpose of having that person admit guilt for a crime they have not committed, especially to avoid being charged with a more severe crime they have not committed, may be held personably liable by the subject of the coercion. This part shall not affect or apply to plea bargains for crimes that have been committed.

     (5) Media:

Any media personnel and any media organizations, who and which are involved in recording or broadcasting the arrest or any other legal action in public, of any person or entity subject to a federal investigation, for the purpose of maximizing the political impact of the government action, for propaganda or other purposes unrelated to journalism and investigative reporting, by working in conjunction or cooperation with any person or part of any federal government operation, they shall be liable to the subject of the public federal government action.

      (6) Conspiracy Against Rights:

Title 18, Sections 241 and 242, Conspiracy Against Rights, and Conspiracy Against Rights Under Color of Law, shall apply fully to this Chapter and Section and can be used in any lawsuit under this part. Any government personnel participating in any way with a federal investigation who violate this section shall be subject to prosecution under this part.

(g) Restitution:

Any person, business, group, club, organization, or any other entity, that was damaged, lost, or destroyed, because of a federal investigation, shall have the right and ability to sue the officials, officers and agents involved personally, and to sue the agencies, departments or government entities involved, to fully restore all income, property, businesses in operating condition, and the total restoration of any other entity, where in all cases there has not been a final conviction.

(h) Records:

At the conclusion of any investigation that does not result in a conviction in a court of law, all records, information, and materials gathered during an investigation shall be removed and destroyed. No information on persons, corporations or other entities shall be kept or maintained beyond the investigation. This section shall apply to all previous investigations as well such that no information or materials can be kept by any government entity once an investigation has been concluded or inactive for more than one year.

(i) Instant Freedom of Information:

In order to ensure that all the financial provisions are being adhered to strictly by all government entities and that prompt payment is also ensured, any question by anyone under investigation of any investigating entity or person shall be answered fully within one business day. Failure to answer in that time will invoke treble damages whereby all defense equity and compliance payments shall be tripled.

(j) Discovery:

Discovery shall exist during the entire investigation such that those being investigated can ask throughout an ongoing investigation what evidence the government has against them. If the government fails to disclose the evidence against them, or the nature of the evidence against them, lawsuits may commence to force discovery. If the investigation appears political, rather than legal, lawsuits can commence immediately challenging any government investigators to prove the investigation is not political.  

(k) Oversight:

All ongoing and all concluded investigations shall be subject to oversight by Congress at any point in the investigation to insure the integrity of the investigation, to insure the use of legal and proper sources and methods, and to insure all constitutional rights of those being investigated are being respected.

ENDORSEMENTS:

Jarome Bell – Candidate for Congress

BILL STATUS: