"A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that prosecutors could access Claude chat transcripts generated by Brad Heppner, a finance startup founder accused of defrauding a company out of $150 million. The chats occurred after Heppner received a subpoena, hired lawyers, and learned that he was a target of prosecutors, his lawyer said in court. Heppner, who helped start the finance firm Beneficient, was arrested last year and charged with wire and securities fraud for conduct that allegedly led to the downfall of GWG Holdings."
"Investigators seized "dozens of electronic devices" when they arrested Heppner at his Dallas mansion, prosecutors said, and Heppner's lawyers have insisted that 31 chats with Anthropic's Claude bot on those devices are privileged. "Mr. Heppner - using an AI tool - prepared reports that outlined defense strategy, that outlined what he might argue with respect to the facts and the law that we anticipated that the government might be charging," his lawyer said."
Prosecutors obtained a court ruling allowing access to Claude chat transcripts that Brad Heppner generated after receiving a subpoena and retaining counsel. Investigators seized dozens of electronic devices during Heppner's arrest, and his lawyers argued 31 Claude chats on those devices were privileged and intended to inform defense strategy. The judge determined Heppner disclosed the material to a third party—an AI service whose terms stated submissions were not confidential—and therefore privilege was waived. The government cited Claude's privacy policy as permitting disclosure, prompting defense warnings about discovery and confidentiality implications for AI use.
Read at Business Insider
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