United States v. HEPPNER

Background

The case is a federal criminal prosecution in which a grand jury charged Bradley Heppner with securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, making false statements to auditors, and falsifying corporate records, arising from an alleged scheme involving GWG Holdings, Inc. and related entities; the indictment was returned on 28 October 2025, unsealed on 4 November 2025, Heppner was arrested and arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and was released on conditions, and the court later denied his motions to strike portions of the indictment and to dismiss the counts before trial (ECF Nos. 3, 4, 18, 24, 25, 40, 42).

AI Interaction

The AI-specific issue arose in a separate privilege dispute rather than in the underlying fraud charges. The Government sought a ruling that documents Heppner generated through Claude were not protected, and the court agreed, holding that the materials were not covered by attorney-client privilege or work-product protection because Claude was 'not an attorney,' the exchanges were not confidential, and the documents were not prepared at counsel’s direction. In particular, the court relied on Claude’s own warning that the user ‘it cannot give legal advice and that a user should consult with a “qualified attorney."’ (ECF Nos. 22, 23-6, 27)