Federal Prosecutor Used Fabricated Quotes in Court Filing (2)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Bloomberg Law

Federal Prosecutor Used Fabricated Quotes in Court Filing (2)

March 6, 2026, 4:55 PM EST; Updated: March 6, 2026, 9:08 PM EST

Ben Penn
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Justice Department lawyers in North Carolina are facing possible sanctions for what a magistrate judge called "fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings."
Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

An assistant US attorney in North Carolina filed a response with the court that included "fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings" and then made "false or misleading statements" of how they got included, a magistrate judge said.

"Because of the seriousness of these issues," senior leaders from the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina must appear at a show cause hearing next week for why the federal prosecutor responsible shouldn't be sanctioned and why the entire office shouldn't be held jointly responsible, US Magistrate Judge Robert Numbers said in a March 2 order. ... The US attorney's office is representing the Defense Department in a lawsuit by a North Carolina pro se litigant challenging a policy limiting availability of GLP-1 weight loss medications for TRICARE for Life participants.

The plaintiff asserted that a response brief signed by assistant US attorney Rudy Renfer included fabricated quotes and misstated the holdings of several cases. In a reply, Renfer said he "inadvertently included incorrect citations to case law from this circuit" and attributed the errors to the "inadvertent filing of an unfinalized draft document," Numbers said in his order.

{snip}

The pro se plaintiff who caught the errors, Derence Fivehouse, is a retired Air Force colonel and an attorney himself. He's a former staff judge advocate (1) who also served as chief of the legal counsel division (2) at the Air Force Base Conversion Agency in the George W. Bush administration ... In an email to Bloomberg Law Friday night, Fivehouse credited the court for identifying "the most significant issues" after he flagged "a few case misrepresentations."

{snip}

The case is Fivehouse v. Defense Dept., E.D.N.C., No. 2:25-cv-00041. (3)

(Updated with comment from plaintiff.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Penn in Washington at [e-mail]

To contact the editors: Seth Stern in Washington at [e-mail]

(1) https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA281364.pdf
(2) https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2002-10-01/pdf/CDIR-2002-10-01-DEPARTMENTS-3.pdf
(3) https://www.bloomberglaw.com/product/blaw/document/X1Q6OSEMSL82?criteria_id=b64c7b3d6a191c07d4e465a2d29c366e&searchGuid=30d7d168-a18d-472b-9323-9326354ec987

Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/federal-prosecutor-used-fabricated-quotes-false-cites-in-filing

---

I am editing this story as I go along, so replies might raise issues that were addressed in an edit made after the reply was posted.

The skeet misidentified the pro se litigant as the defendant. He is the plaintiff.

Hat tip, Ken White

Reposted by Special Envoy for the Shield of the Popehats
https://bsky.app/profile/kenwhite.bsky.social

NEWS: A Justice Dept. line attorney in North Carolina fabricated quotes in court filing, causing judge to order hearing to consider sanctions and holding entire US attorney’s office jointly responsible.
Pro se defendant flagged the errors.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

— Ben Penn (@benjaminpenn.bsky.social) 2026-03-06T22:50:39.106Z

*******
Ben Penn
‪@benjaminpenn.bsky.social‬

NEWS: A Justice Dept. line attorney in North Carolina fabricated quotes in court filing, causing judge to order hearing to consider sanctions and holding entire US attorney's office jointly responsible.
Pro se defendant flagged the errors.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/federal-prosecutor-used-fabricated-quotes-false-cites-in-filing

Federal Prosecutor Used Fabricated Quotes in Court Filing
An assistant US attorney in North Carolina filed a response with the court that included "fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings" and then made "false or misleading statements" of ho...
news.bloomberglaw.com
5:50 PM · Mar 6, 2026
*******

[pnwmom]

1. I bet that pro-se plaintiff took them by surprise! n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. He's a lawyer but he is representing himself. I guess that still gets the "pro se" designation.

The pro se plaintiff who caught the errors, Derence Fivehouse, is a retired Air Force colonel and an attorney himself. He's a former staff judge advocate who also served as chief of the legal counsel division at the Air Force Base Conversion Agency in the George W. Bush administration

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. I need to point out that reply #1 was posted before I edited the OP

Last edited Sat Mar 7, 2026, 04:21 AM - Edit history (1)

to add the info that the plaintiff is himself an attorney.

I am posting from an Amazon Fire, so articles get posted in dribs and drabs.

And good morning.

[pnwmom]

6. The legal document would just show him as a pro se plaintiff.

Those cover pages don't show a person's resume, so I bet the govt. lawyers didn't spot the name of a lawyer who'd served in W's administration.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Court Finds Federal Prosecutor Filed Brief Containing Fabricated Quotes

Court Finds Federal Prosecutor Filed Brief Containing Fabricated Quotes

Published on:
Mar. 3, 2026

An assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina, Rudy Renfer, filed a court response containing “fabricated quotations and misstatements of case holdings” and then made “false or misleading statements” about how they were included, a federal court found according to a Bloomberg article.

“Because of the seriousness of these issues,” senior leaders from the Eastern District of North Carolina’s U.S. Attorney’s Office must appear at a show cause hearing to explain why Renfer shouldn’t be sanctioned and why the office shouldn’t be held jointly responsible, the court said.

“Having reviewed the filings in this matter and other submissions by Renfer, the court has serious concerns about the accuracy of certain quotations and representations in Renfer’s filings and the explanation offered for their inclusion,” the court said.

The court identified several fabricated quotes and misstatements of multiple circuit court opinions, as well as two fabricated quotes from the Code of Federal Regulations.

The case is Fivehouse v. Defense Dept., No. 2:25-cv-00041 (E.D.N.C.).

[barbtries]

7. that tracks.

North Carolina, this state where i live, where republicans rule.

so, they're catapulting the propaganda into the Court.

[wolfie001]

8. tRUMP prosecutors are caught lying in court filings. I'm shocked........

[pfitz59]

9. The professionals were fired or quit

what's left are third tier MAGA zealots