E.D.N.Y. Division of Business Rule 4 — Related Criminal Cases
A published court requirement that applies in New York. Category: Local Rules. Effective February 17, 2025. Verified against the official source (E.D.N.Y. — Local Rules & Division of Business (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York)) on November 3, 2026.
Summary
E.D.N.Y. Division of Business Rule 4 — Related Criminal Cases: the court's own rule, verbatim from Rules for the Division of Business for the Eastern District of New York (Effective February 17, 2025), official PDF, sha-custodied. Court-level requirement: governs the categories, courthouse designation (Brooklyn or Central Islip), assignment and relatedness of cases among the judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York; adopted under 28 U.S.C. § 137 for the internal management of the court's case load.
Requirement
(a) General. For purposes of this Rule, a “case” refers to a criminal proceeding commenced by indictment or information. A “case” does not include wiretap applications, motions in connection with grand jury proceedings, or ex parte criminal motions or applications. (b) Relevant Considerations in Relating Cases (1) There shall be a presumption that one criminal case is “related” to another when the facts of each arise out of the same charged criminal scheme(s), transaction(s), or event(s), even if different defendants are involved in each case, or when the same criminal conduct is charged in an indictment and a violation of probation or supervised release. (2) The presumption shall be overcome upon a determination by the relevant Judges that reassignment would not achieve a significant savings of judicial resources or serve the interests of justice. (3) In a case involving racketeering charges, the determination of whether that case should be related to another shall be made on the basis of the predicate acts charged, not the alleged criminal enterprise. (c) Obligation of the United States Attorney’s Office (1) It is the affirmative obligation of the United States Attorney’s Office (“USAO”) to give notice to all relevant Judges whenever it appears that one case may be related to another pursuant to Rule 4(b) above. Such notice shall be provided by letter at the time of the filing of any indictment, information or Federal Criminal Rule 7(b) motion, complaint, or report alleging a violation of probation or supervised release, or if the relevant facts first become known subsequent thereto, promptly thereafter. The letter shall set forth the facts relevant to deciding whether the cases are related. Unless it otherwise states, the letter will be interpreted having been submitted only to provide notice to the Court, and not as an application from the USAO seeking reassignment of the cases. Any request for reassignment must be made pursuant to Rule 4(d) below. (2) The USAO may move for leave to file a notice required by the Rule ex parte and under seal for good cause shown. The USAO shall promptly move to unseal the notice once the need for ex parte and sealed filing no longer exists. Absent leave of court, the USAO shall publicly file a notice indicating that an ex parte sealed filing pursuant to this Rule is being submitted. (3) These obligations are continuing. The USAO should endeavor to provide notice that could avoid having two or more Judges sentence different defendants or the same defendant in related cases. (d) Applications for Reassignment (1) Either the USAO or any defendant may file an application seeking reassignment of a case to a Judge whom the defendant contends has a case that is related pursuant to Rule 4(b)(1). Either the USAO or any defendant may likewise request that a case previously assigned to a Judge as related be reassigned to the original Judge on the ground that it was not properly related. (2) The USAO and all defendants in a criminal case may jointly seek reassignment of a criminal case to another Judge in the interests of justice or on the grounds that a significant savings of judicial resources would be achieved. (3) Any application for reassignment shall be made by letter motion filed in the affected cases. Where the Judges presiding over the cases at issue agree on whether cases should be reassigned, the Judge presiding over the lowest-numbered case shall grant or deny the motion. In other cases, the application shall be decided by the Chief Judge.
Source of truth
(a) General. For purposes of this Rule, a “case” refers to a criminal proceeding commenced by indictment or information. A “case” does not include wiretap applications, motions in connection with grand jury proceedings, or ex parte criminal motions or applications. (b) Relevant
- Official source
- E.D.N.Y. — Local Rules & Division of Business (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York)
- Source health
- Healthy · checked November 14, 2026
- Effective date
- February 17, 2025
- Last verified
- November 3, 2026benchpath-nyfed-rules-2026-11-03
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