YOU WON. YOU STILL PAID…
When a federal case ends without a conviction, the defendant absorbs every dollar. A 1997 law was supposed to repay people the government never should have charged. The standard it set is so narrow that almost no one clears it.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
A federal indictment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight. Most defendants sell the business, drain the retirement, or borrow against the house to do it. Then the case ends — dismissed, acquitted, reversed — and every dollar stays gone. The verdict clears the record. It does not clear the debt.
WHAT WE'RE DOING ABOUT IT
Congress already wrote the remedy. The Hyde Amendment lets a federal defendant recover fees — but only by proving the prosecution was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith. Almost no one clears that bar. We research what the current standard costs the public, and we draft the statutory language that would replace it with a prevailing-party test.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
This is a research and drafting fight, not a protest. Your gift funds the economic study that puts a number on what failed prosecutions cost, the statutory drafting behind a workable standard, and the briefs that put the argument in front of the courts and committees that can move it.
DONATECASE STUDIES
The Foundation takes no position on guilt or innocence in any individual case; these are documented to show what a win actually costs.
Dr. Muhamad Aly Rifai is a quadruple board-certified psychiatrist and internist in Pennsylvania. Indicted in 2022 on four health-care fraud counts, he declined to plead and went to trial. In May 2024 a jury acquitted him on every count after roughly two hours of deliberation. The practice, the patients, and the legal costs did not come back with the verdict.
Mark Sorensen built SyMed Inc., a Chicago-area medical device company. He was convicted under the Anti-Kickback Statute in 2023 and sentenced to 42 months. In April 2025 the Seventh Circuit reversed unanimously, holding that paying for legitimate marketing is not a kickback, and he was acquitted that June. The company was already gone.
Lucky Ott built Boerne Drug Company from one storefront into a six-store pharmacy group in Texas. He was indicted in 2022 in the Southern District of Georgia, declined every plea offer, and asked for a trial. In October 2025 the court granted a judgment of acquittal, finding the government had failed to establish venue. The government's appeal is pending before the Eleventh Circuit.
The people who win these cases are not asking for sympathy. They are asking why the cost of a prosecution that failed lands on them. Your gift funds the research and the drafting that make that question impossible to ignore.
Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation works at the system level on federal criminal procedure. We do not provide individual legal representation, case referrals, or clemency assistance.
The Hyde Amendment is a 1997 federal statute that allows a criminal defendant who prevails against the government to ask the court to award attorney's fees and litigation costs. It was written as a check on prosecutorial overreach: if the government brings a case it should not have brought, the defendant should not be left holding the bill.
In practice, almost no one. A prevailing defendant must show the prosecution was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith — a standard courts read narrowly. Fewer than 15 meaningful awards have issued in nearly 29 years. Winning the case is not enough; the defendant must essentially prove the government acted improperly in bringing it.
No. The Justice Restoration Foundation does not provide legal representation, case referrals, or individual advocacy of any kind. We work at the system level — research, economic analysis, and statutory drafting on federal criminal procedure. If you are seeking fee recovery in your own matter, consult a qualified attorney.
