Candice E. Jackson and I have written a number of articles and papers on what we call “derivative crimes,” which are “crimes” that really are the bundling of other “bad acts” into things like “racketeering” and “securities fraud” and the like. Eliot Spitzer apparently had been making “suspicious” cash transfers through clandestine means is likely to be charged with the “crime” called “structuring.”

Here is the situation: he will be charged in the making of suspicious payments in order to break the law. Now, the wire transfers in and of themselves were not illegal, and the feds are not going to charge him with soliciting prostitutes.

However, combine the two activities, and you have a federal crime. Candice and I argued vociferously against the trial and conviction of Alabama booster Logan Young a few years ago in which he was similarly charged. Young withdrew amounts of money of less than $10,000 in order to hide (allegedly) payments to a coach of a prospect Alabama was recruiting. He was officially charged with something like “withdrawing money in amounts of less than $10,000 in order to hide payments to bribe a public servant.”

Candice and I argued, however, that since it never had been proven in a proper court of law (Tennessee state criminal court) that Young bribed anyone, the federal charges were bogus. Some of you might remember that I was a guest on the Paul Finebaum Show, and was accused of being a “disciple” of Lyndon LaRuche (or however you spell that guy’s name) because I was critical of a federal prosecution.

But later, Young’s attorneys filed an appeal that mirrored what Candice and I claimed was the problem. As for Spitzer, if he is similarly charged, he will be facing trial for what really are not real-live crimes at all, but that does not matter in today’s federal court system.

As for Spitzer himself, his recent Wall Street prosecutions were just as baseless. I have no respect for him, call him “Dr. Evil,” and generally despise everything about him. However, I draw the line at putting him on trial for this load of garbage. Yes, I can rejoice that his political career is in tatters, but I will draw the line at filing federal criminal charges against him.