⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit hears Richard Weed's post-conviction challenge. A jury convicted Weed, a securities lawyer, after he wrote false opinion letters that helped two stock promoters sell overvalued shares in a pump-and-dump scheme. The First Circuit affirmed his fraud and conspiracy convictions in 2017. The government's case relied on Weed's false use of Rule 144, a safe harbor for certain stock resales; Weed says Section 3(a)(9) separately exempted the shares. He later asked the trial court to vacate his sentence under Section 2255, claiming his lawyer should have raised that theory and prosecutors withheld impeachment material about cooperating witness Coleman Flaherty's tax filings and adoption proceedings. The district court denied relief. Under Strickland, Weed must show both deficient lawyering and a reasonable probability of a different result. This appeal asks whether the omitted securities-law theory or the undisclosed impeachment material meets those standards.

Richard Weed v. United States (No. 25-1498) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, argued September 15, 2026.