Assented to Motion for Protective Order (Discovery Protective Order) — USA v. Ebrahimzadeh (Dkt. 28, D. Mass.)

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts · No. 1:25-cr-10455-RGS · Doc. 28 · 2026-01-14 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS 
_______________________________________ 
 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 
 
v. 
 
DAVID EBRAHIMZADEH 
 
 
 
 
Criminal No. 25-cr-10455-RGS 
 
ASSENTED-TO MOTION FOR DISCOVERY PROTECTIVE ORDER 
 
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(d), the government, with the assent of 
the defendant, hereby moves for the entry of a protective order, which will enable the government 
to produce relevant evidence to the defendant while protecting confidential or sensitive 
information, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, and bank account 
numbers of unindicted co-conspirators and witnesses, as well as other information that could pose 
a serious risk of harm to an individual or entity or risk obstructing the government’s ongoing 
investigation if disseminated. As grounds for this motion, the government states as follows:  
 
The indictment charges the defendant with bank fraud, wire fraud affecting a financial 
institution, wire fraud, and procuring the filing of a false tax return.  The indictment alleges that 
the defendant fraudulently obtained over $8 million in pandemic relief loans from the United States 
by making false statements in support of those applications and applying on behalf of ineligible 
and defunct entities.  The indictment refers to numerous individuals (at ¶¶ 3-8) who were involved 
in the defendant’s fraudulent activities.   Although only the defendant is charged in the indictment, 
the government’s investigation is ongoing, and there are multiple unindicted co-conspirators, with 
whom the defendant has been ordered to have no contact. 
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The government will be producing in automatic discovery over 1.3 million pages of 
documents.  Some of these documents contain the personal identifying information and sensitive 
financial information of witnesses and unindicted co-conspirators, as well as the defendant.  
Moreover, some of the materials that the government will be producing in automatic discovery, 
including a portion of a phone extraction, text messages, and contents of email accounts, contain 
personal and sensitive information of witnesses and unindicted co-conspirators.  Given the scope 
of the production, redacting PII and other personal and sensitive information from these documents 
is impractical. Moreover, the dissemination of some of these materials could pose a risk to the 
integrity of the government’s ongoing investigation and/or a risk of harm to an individual.  
 
The government wishes to provide these materials promptly.  However, given the volume 
of discovery, it would be impractical to apply redactions to all personally identifying information 
such as dates of birth and social security numbers, or other potentially sensitive information such 
as bank account numbers.  
For these reasons, the government moves, pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of 
Criminal Procedure and Local Rules 7.2 and 116.6, for a protective order and proposes that the 
Court enter the order attached.  
The proposed protective order differentiates between classes of discovery material, with 
some materials subject to greater restrictions than others.  The proposed protective order provides 
that all discovery materials may only be used for the defense of this case and cannot be further 
distributed except under narrow circumstances. It further provides that for any particularly 
sensitive documents that the government designates as “Confidential” (“Confidential Discovery 
Materials”), while the defendant may view the materials, he may not personally possess a copy; 
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those items are to be maintained by his counsel and viewed with his counsel. The government 
anticipates using this designation sparingly. 
Any Confidential Discovery Materials that are filed with the Court in connection with pre-
trial motions, trial, sentencing, or other matters before this Court shall be filed under seal and shall 
remain sealed until otherwise ordered by this Court. The Protective Order does not entitle either 
party to seal its filings as a matter of course; it requires the parties to comply in all respects with 
the relevant local and federal rules of criminal procedure pertaining to the sealing of court 
documents.  It permits the parties to seek modifications of the Protective Order in the future and 
permits the defendant to challenge any confidentiality designation made by the government. 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
By its attorney, 
 
LEAH B. FOLEY 
United States Attorney 
 
/s/ Elianna J. Nuzum  
 
 
Elianna J. Nuzum  
Assistant United States Attorney 
John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse 
One Courthouse Way, Suite 9200 
Boston, MA 02210 
elianna.nuzum@usdoj.gov 
617.748.3100 
 
Dated: January 14, 2026 
 
 
 
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LOCAL RULE 7.1(A)(2) CERTIFICATION 
I hereby certify that, consistent with Local Rule 7.1(a)(2), the parties have conferred and 
attempted in good faith to resolve or narrow the issues presented in this motion, and the 
defendant, through counsel, has assented to this motion. 
/s/ Elianna J. Nuzum  
 
 
Elianna J. Nuzum  
 
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 
 
Undersigned counsel certifies that this document filed through the ECF system will be 
sent electronically to the registered participants as identified on the Notice of Electronic Filing 
(NEF) and paper copies will be sent to those indicated as non-registered participants.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Elianna J. Nuzum  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Elianna J. Nuzum 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Assistant United States Attorney 
 
Dated: January 14, 2026 
Case 1:25-cr-10455-RGS     Document 28     Filed 01/14/26     Page 4 of 4

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