Declaration of Derek Maltz in Support of 150 Administrative Motion — Brooks v. Thomson Reuters Corporation (Dkt. 154, N.D. Cal. No. 3:21-cv-01418)

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U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California · No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC · Doc. 154 · 2023-01-26 · Docket on CourtListener

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Susan D. Fahringer, Bar No. 21567 
SFahringer@perkinscoie.com 
Nicola C. Menaldo, pro hac vice 
NMenaldo@perkinscoie.com 
Erin K. Earl, pro hac vice 
EEarl@perkinscoie.com 
Anna M . Thompson, pro hac vice 
Anna Thompson@perkinscoie.com 
PERKINS COIE LLP 
1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 
Seattle, WA 98101-3099 
Telephone: 206.359.8000 
Facsimile: 206.359.9000 
Attorneys for Defendant 
Thomson Reuters Corporation 
Gabriella Gallego, Bar No. 324226 
GGallego@perkinscoie.com 
PERKINS COIE LLP 
3150 Porter Drive 
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1212 
Telephone: 650.838.4300 
Facsimile: 650.838.4350 
Hayden M. Schottlaender, pro hac vice 
HSchottlaender@perkinscoie.com 
PERKINS COIE LLP 
500 N. Akard Street, Suite 3300 
Dallas, TX 75201-3347 
Telephone: 214.965. 7700 
Facsimile: 214.965.7799 
UNITED ST ATES DISTRICT COURT 
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 
SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 
CAT BROOKS and RASHEED 
SHABAZZ, individually and on behalf of 
all others similarly situated, 
Plaintiffs, 
V. 
THOMSON REUTERS CORPORATION, 
Defendant. 
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC 
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC 
DECLARATION OF DEREK MALTZ IN 
SUPPORT OF THOMSON REUTERS' 
CLASS CERTIFICATION OPPOSITION 
DECLARATION OF DEREK MALTZ 
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC   Document 154   Filed 01/26/23   Page 1 of 4
EXHIBIT
D

I, Derek Maltz, declare as follows: 
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1. 
I am Executive Director of Government Relations at Pen-Link, Ltd. I make this 
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declaration based upon personal knowledge and if called upon to do so I could and would testify 
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competently to the facts set forth herein. 
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2. 
I have been at Pen-Link in my role since August 2014. Before working at Pen-
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Link, I spent 28 years in law enforcement, most recently for over 9 years as Special Agent in 
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Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's ("DEA") Special Operations Division. 
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3. 
In my time in law enforcement, l largely performed a supervisory role for task 
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forces that coordinated law enforcement efforts across federal, state, and local organizations. My 
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expertise is in combating drug trafficking and cartels and in fighting transnational criminal 
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networks around the world. I have also worked on related efforts to combat drug funding used to 
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support the terrorist organization Hezbollah (known as Project Cassandra). 
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4. 
Since I retired from the DEA, I have remained heavily involved in efforts to 
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combat fentanyl trafficking. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is stronger than traditional opioids 
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and cheap to manufacture, which has led to its widespread use by drug dealers to cut or replace 
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more expensive alternative drugs. The doses of fentanyl included in these cut drugs are often fatal 
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for unsuspecting users. This type of fentanyl cutting has contributed significantly to the thousands 
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of deaths from drug overdoses in this country each month. Today, drug dealers are using social 
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media to sell fentanyl-laced drugs to unsuspecting users. I've spoken to countless parents who 
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have lost children to unexpected fentanyl overdoses and have advocated on their behalf before 
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Congress. 
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5. 
I am aware that law enforcement investigators use public records platforms like 
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CLEAR to identify criminal networks (including networks of fentanyl distributors). Teams under 
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my supervision used products like CLEAR in this manner during my time in law enforcement. I 
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also worked closely with other drug enforcement teams (including Sheriffs, police departments, 
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and other DEA teams) around the country, and in California in particular, which used CLEAR in 
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a similar manner. Based on my experience, if law enforcement did not have access to CLEAR or 
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public records search tools like it, law enforcement would be severely hamstrung in their efforts 
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC 
DECLARATION OF DEREK MALTZ 
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Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC   Document 154   Filed 01/26/23   Page 2 of 4

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to fight drug trafficking and fentanyl distribution and many more children and Americans could 
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die from drug overdoses. 
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6. 
For the entirety of my law enforcement career, we relied on companies offering 
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public records as an investigative tool. Then and now, these tools are essential to investigators in 
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connecting the dots to track organized crime. 
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7. 
For example, from 1996 to 1999, I worked as a supervisor in the New York Field 
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Office for the DEA, on the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force. The New York Drug 
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Enforcement Task Force is the largest and oldest drug enforcement task force in the country. In 
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that position, I was able to personally observe not only how the DEA used public records tools 
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like CLEAR, 1 but also how the other task force participants (such as the New York Police 
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Department and the New York State Pol ice) used such tools. As an example of one use case, the 
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task force relied on public records tools like CLEAR to identify individual drug traffickers using 
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stash houses around the country. Though traffickers go to great lengths to disguise their identities 
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and hide from law enforcement, public records tools like CLEAR were able to provide accurate 
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information about the location of these drug traffickers and their stash houses. And once one 
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individual was identified by name and phone number, it formed a valuable piece of information 
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that could be used to identify other associates and locations for stashing contraband, all of which 
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assisted in investigating and disrupting drug distribution and violent gang networks. 
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8. 
These tools are essential to help law enforcement supplement traditional policing 
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techniques and keep up with increasingly sophisticated criminals. In the internet age, when bad 
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guys have access to instant information, CLEAR and public records platforms like it are essential 
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in giving the good guys a fighting chance. 
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I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. 
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[ continued on next page] 
1 I say these tools are "like CLEAR" because they provided law enforcement with a means of 
searching public records, including driver's license information, phone numbers, and utility 
header data. 
Case No. 3 :21-cv-0 I 418-EMC 
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DECLARATION OF DEREK MALTZ 
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC   Document 154   Filed 01/26/23   Page 3 of 4

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Executed on January J 3, 2023, in 
Case No. 3:21-cv-01418-EMC 
I). 
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v, f'f!'V/ fc . ~
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Derek Maltz 
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DECLARATION OF DEREK MAL Ti 
Case 3:21-cv-01418-EMC   Document 154   Filed 01/26/23   Page 4 of 4

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