XiaoFeng Wang, a former Indiana University faculty member, was fired the same day the FBI searched his home in March. Wang has not been charged with a crime. (Courtesy, Indiana University)
The government asked a federal judge to keep search warrants for a fired Indiana University cybersecurity expert private.
In a filing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, U.S. attorney John Childress said releasing even parts of the search warrant would damage an ongoing investigation by law enforcement.
In March, federal agents searched the homes of XiaoFeng Wang in Bloomington and Carmel, and IU fired him the same day. The FBI has not said why it’s investigating Wang. Wang has not been charged with a crime.
Read more: Government asks judge to keep Wang search warrants sealed
Riana Pfefferkorn, a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human Centered Artificial Intelligence, filed a motion in April to unseal the search warrants. Pfefferkorn requested the government unseal the warrants entirely or release a redacted version.
Read more: Stanford scholar files motion to unseal FBI search warrant on former IU professor
Now that the government has filed this motion, Pfefferkorn said the matter is in the court's hands.
'Yet again, the government focuses on affidavits — which are just one of the documents that get filed in a search arrant matter — arguing that even redacted versions of the affidavits can't be released at all, while entirely failing to explain why that argument extends to all the other sealed documents besides the affidavits," Pfefferkorn said. "I hope the court sees through this."
In the government’s filing Tuesday, attorneys argued that releasing a redacted version would be misleading and unintelligible.
The search warrants give “extensive detail” into the investigation, the motion said. Releasing it would disclose potential charges, the targets of the investigation, locations searched and “the investigative techniques that federal law enforcement has used or potentially will use in the future.”
The government argued people related to the case could destroy evidence, flee or try to influence witnesses if the warrants are released publicly.
The government may interview more witnesses before charges are presented to a grand jury, potentially witnesses who collaborated with “the target(s)” of the investigation over many years.
“If the investigation is not kept confidential, then witnesses will be less willing to come forward to speak to the Government out of fear of embarrassment, reputational damage, or reprisal,” the motion said.
Keeping the warrants sealed would prevent confusion, the government also argued. The warrants contain detailed allegations about “a myriad of topics.”
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
