If you're on our website, it's because you're facing serious federal charges – and need the best Baton Rouge federal criminal lawyer who knows exactly what you're up against. At Spodek Law Group, we get it. We know the terror in your chest when you realize it’s not the East Baton Rouge DA coming after you – it’s the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with the FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS all moving like one machine. And that’s not just a different arena—it’s a whole different sport, with rules stacked to favor federal prosecutors.

Federal cases are not minor league. These aren’t shoplifting charges or DUI tickets. These are indictments under statutes like 21 U.S.C. § 846 (drug conspiracy), 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (wire fraud), or 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (felon in possession of a firearm). You’re facing life-altering sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum prison time, supervised release conditions so suffocating you’ll feel them years after. And here’s the part nobody says out loud—the judges in the Middle District of Louisiana, sitting at 777 Florida Street in Baton Rouge, they stick tight to those guidelines. They read the book, they apply it, and if your lawyer isn’t pushing back every single inch—you’re finished before you even start.

We’ve been here before, thousands of times, all across the country. We see AUSAs (Assistant U.S. Attorneys) acting like kings of the courtroom, thinking their evidence is airtight because it came wrapped in an FBI or DEA seal. We fight them daily. That’s what federal defense actually looks like—it’s survival against an opponent who’s already spent months or years stacking the deck against you.

Federal Charges in Baton Rouge: The Reality

Baton Rouge is ground zero for federal enforcement. The Middle District gets flooded with large-scale drug prosecutions, organized fraud cases, and federal weapons charges. Just glance at the press releases published by U.S. Attorney Ronald Gathe Jr.’s office—you’ll notice the pattern. DEA raids leading to multi-defendant indictments. IRS-CI investigations tearing apart financial records. ATF agents lodging firearm enhancements on top of drug cases. Pure federal muscle.

All of it funnels into one place: the U.S. District Courthouse downtown. That’s the arena where prosecutions land after endless amounts of federal surveillance— Title III wiretaps, hours of pole camera footage, confidential informant debriefings running 30+ pages, forensic reports on seized phones. By the time an arrest happens, federal agents don’t think you’re innocent until proven guilty—they consider you already guilty, and their “evidence” is just a performance to make sure the judge sees it their way.

Federal vs. State: The Real Difference

I’ll be straight with you, the split between state and federal charges is night and day. State court might give you probation or parole on a first offense. But federally? Every ounce of drugs adds time. Every co-conspirator expands liability. Every “relevant act” increases your sentencing exposure—even ones you didn’t personally commit. That’s how the conspiracy statute under 21 U.S.C. § 846 operates: guilt by association, magnified. What might be a year in parish court becomes 10 years in federal custody without parole. Not maybe, not possibly—very, very real.

And think about fraud. Write a bad check locally, you might be in city court with misdemeanor exposure. Write that same check once banks or interstate wire transfers are involved—and suddenly you’re looking at 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (bank fraud), or 18 U.S.C. § 1028A (aggravated identity theft) stacked on top. Those carry mandatory consecutive sentences of two years or more. The difference is astonishing, and honestly—it catches people off-guard every single day in Baton Rouge.

Common Federal Prosecutions in Baton Rouge

• Drug Trafficking & Conspiracy: Multi-kilo meth, fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana cases prosecuted federally. We’ve defended conspiracy indictments where text messages alone were used to argue clients were tied to kilos they never touched. That’s classic Middle District strategy.
• Fraud & White Collar Crimes: Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, PPP loan fraud. These are routine in Baton Rouge and aggressively pursued by federal agencies like the IRS and FBI. Restitution demands in six, even seven, figures are not uncommon.
• Firearms Offenses: Almost every narcotics indictment includes add-on gun charges under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)—possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. That's not parole time, that's mandatory consecutive prison time stacked on top of the underlying sentence.
• Public Corruption: Baton Rouge’s courthouse regularly hosts public figures facing charges for bribery under 18 U.S.C. § 201 or honest services fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1346. High-profile, newsworthy, career-ending.
• Cybercrime: Fraudulent schemes targeting Baton Rouge medical centers and businesses, with charges brought under statutes like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. § 1030). Because emails or servers cross state lines, cases almost always go federal.

What a Federal Lawyer Does Day to Day

Look, people sometimes think a lawyer is just someone in a suit speaking for you in court. That’s part of it—but in federal defense, our work is frontloaded and relentless. We file motions under the Fourth Amendment to suppress DEA surveillance. We challenge Title III wiretap authorizations. We bring Daubert motions to exclude shaky government experts. We battle over discovery, reports, Brady and Giglio disclosures. And yes, we negotiate with prosecutors, but we don’t go in blind like some attorneys do (truth is, some Baton Rouge lawyers have never stepped foot in federal court, and you’ll pay for their learning curve).

The stakes make preparation everything. Federal prosecutors are methodical, they don’t bring sloppy cases. So you need a team that doesn’t just "defend"—we dismantle, piece by piece, until leverage shifts away from them and back into your hands.

Inside Baton Rouge Federal Court

The Middle District is unique—it’s smaller than, say, the Southern District of New York, but no less ruthless. Judges here are respected, decisive, and they’re not in the business of leniency. Magistrate judges often recommend pretrial detention without hesitation. The Pretrial Services reports? They carry real weight. Probation officers craft PSRs (Pre-Sentence Reports) that basically set the tone for sentencing, and getting those right is the difference between walking out in five years versus fifteen.

Jury selection is orderly, rigid. Court timeframe is stricter. AUSAs don’t show mercy simply because you’re a "first-timer." And once the government gets their conviction—they pursue restitution orders, asset forfeiture, supervised release, everything possible to hollow you out. It’s not like state court where you can negotiate around the edges. Federal court is unforgiving. If your defense team doesn’t know how to play in this environment—you lose. Simple as that.

The Cost of Defending Federal Cases

Families always ask us: what does it cost? And here’s my honest answer—it depends on the complexity and stakes. A single-defendant felon-in-possession charge under § 922(g)? Manageable. A 10-defendant § 846 conspiracy with wiretaps, controlled buys, and 40,000 pages of discovery? Different universe entirely. That requires experts, investigators, analysts, maybe multiple attorneys reviewing documents and recordings for months.

So fees align with that reality. We don’t play games with promises of “cheap defense.” You wouldn’t want it. Think of it this way: federal prosecutors are bringing nuclear-level resources, and so you need a defense scaled accordingly. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison with hiring the guy who got your neighbor out of a traffic ticket. It’s apples to the the Pentagon.

Why Choose Spodek Law Group

We take loyalty seriously. Our loyalty doesn’t go to judges, AUSAs, or law enforcement—it goes only to YOU. We bring over 50 years of combined courtroom experience, our rock star team has faced off against every trick the DOJ can throw.

You may have heard of us from the Anna Delvey / Anna Sorokin case—Netflix made a series about it. Todd Spodek stood at the center of an international story, representing a client the media already convicted in their minds. That level of high-visibility, high-pressure representation is exactly what we bring for clients in Baton Rouge facing federal indictments. Creative defense, relentless strategy, media awareness when necessary—we deploy every tool available, because one-size-fits-all defense loses federal cases.

We pick up the phone 24/7. No exceptions. Do you know why? Because FBI and DEA agents don’t wait. They raid homes at 5AM in Baton Rouge. They pick people up on a Friday night, knowing magistrates won’t hear bail motions until Monday. If your lawyers sleep through those critical first hours, you lose leverage and sometimes cases spiral before you’ve even had a chance to defend yourself. That’s never us.

Protect Yourself Now

Here’s what really happens. The FBI or DEA knocks on your door, they act friendly, they "just want to talk." You sit down, say a few things thinking you’ll explain it all away, and bang—those words end up in a written FBI 302 report. That report becomes the backbone of the prosecution. Do not talk, not even a word. Call us first. We handle the agents, we shield you, because every word matters and the government will twist your language into evidence.

We’ve handled massive conspiracies, billion-dollar fraud allegations, public corruption scandals—look, the point is we win. Not every time, not magically, but by fighting smarter, harder, and with fewer illusions. That’s the only way federal defense works.

Don’t gamble with your life. Contact Spodek Law Group immediately. We defend clients in Baton Rouge, across the Middle District of Louisiana, and nationwide. Hire a law firm that gets it, trusted coast-to-coast for relentless, intelligent defense. That’s our promise.