From Cafe and the Vox Media Podcast Network, welcome to stay tuned.

I'm Pete Barara.

People who thought that the war effort in Ukraine could have been run better in that sense.

They might have found common cause with progozion who took every opportunity to criticize Russian generals and the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

That's Joshua Yafa. He's a contributing writer at the New Yorker and has reported extensively on Russia's war in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict nearly 18 months ago.

His 2020 book, Between Two Fires, Truth Ambition and Compromise in Putin's Russia won the Orwell Prize for its depiction of everyday life in that country.

I spoke with Yafa about the rise of Ivgeny Pregozion and his Wagner mercenary group, Why His Attempted Coofailed, President Biden's renewed intention to support Ukraine's military, and the latest on the detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Grzković.

That's coming up. Stay tuned.

Now let's get to your questions.

This question comes in a tweet from Martha who asks, How is jurisdiction determined in wire fraud cases in which fundraising or other solicitations are sent all over the country?

Do charges have to be filed where they originate or anywhere that they are received? Now I get questions about venue all the time.

It is something that is an element of a crime. It has to be proven, although not beyond a reasonable doubt in federal court, but despite preponderance of the evidence.

It is by the way a constitutional requirement. Crimes must be charged where they took place, but obviously in modern society, part of a crime can take place in many jurisdictions.

And in fact, sometimes, particularly in conspiracy cases, there are fights among federal prosecutors as to who brings the case, because a part of the crime may have been committed in California, another part may have been committed in New York, and so on, and so forth.

With respect to your particular question about fundraising and solicitations, if you have an unlawful political donation that's actually subject to criminal sanction, the charge could reasonably be filed in the place where the donation was made or the place where the donation was received.

And in fact, it could also be brought technically in any jurisdiction through which the money travels.

So for example, in a case that we brought some years ago when I was the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, there was an elaborate plot on the part of Iranian nationals to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States in the District of Columbia.

So the bad guys who were originating the plot were in Iran. The hitman who they had hired, who they didn't know was a confidential informant was operating out of Texas, but there were one or more wire transfers to pay the hitman, the travel through a bank, and that bank was located in the Southern District of New York.

And that was sufficient.

This question comes in an email from Emily. Hi, Preet. Can you explain exactly what the DC bar said in recommending that Rudy Giuliani lose his law license?

So this is an issue that we've been following for quite some time. As you may recall, this disciplinary proceeding arose in the matter of the Giuliani lawsuit that he signed on to in Pennsylvania in connection with the 2020 election on behalf of the Donald Trump campaign.

It's a searing and scathing document, and I'll quote from it in a moment.

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