Crime & Law
‘Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened’: Judge Blasts US Attorney Andrew Boutros as Another Case Tied to ‘Broadview Six’ Scandal Falls Apart
The Dirksen Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois)
A federal judge dressed down Chicago’s U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros for failing to appear in her court, saying “Pandora’s box has been opened” following the conduct of his office as another case tied to the “Broadview Six” scandal has fallen apart amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman blasted the embattled U.S. attorney during a hearing Friday afternoon in which she granted a motion to dismiss a second indictment issued by the same grand jury that brought charges in the botched “Broadview Six” protester case.
That motion was brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur in the fraud case against Mahmood Sami Khan and Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry, days ahead of an evidentiary hearing that could have brought forth testimony and evidence tied to internal communications from Boutros’ office.
By dismissing the case with prejudice, that hearing is no longer needed, but Coleman told MacArthur Friday that this move might not “do what you want it to do.”
“A Pandora’s box has been opened,” Coleman said. “I don’t know if we put it all back in the box, it all goes away. My guess is it doesn’t.”
MacArthur, a veteran federal prosecutor, was brought on to the case following significant misconduct allegations levied against her colleague and fellow prosecutor Sheri Mecklenburg, who secured indictments both against Khan and Chaudhry, and the now-former defendants in the Broadview case, through the same grand jury.
While expressing her deep respect for MacArthur, Coleman noted that there were likely internal issues that would have been brought up during that now-canceled hearing that “you all may not wanna get into” and noted that “there’s another person who heads that office who isn’t here.”
“Is Mr. Boutros here?” the judge said. “I don’t see him.”
Boutros was not present before Coleman on Friday as he was last month when he personally apologized to U.S. District Judge April Perry for his prosecutors’ conduct before a grand jury that indicted the “Broadview Six.”
Coleman noted that charging decisions and grand jury proceedings are never a “one-man show” but if there is any one person who is responsible, it’s Boutros.
The stunning dismissal of that case and the revelation of Mecklenburg’s alleged misconduct has led to numerous calls for Boutros to resign his position. He has instead issued defiant statements proclaiming his intent to remain in office “for years to come.”
Khan and Chaudhry were charged in June 2025 alongside ex-Loretto Hospital CFO Anosh Ahmed after prosecutors alleged they submitted fraudulent reimbursement claims to the federal government for COVID-19 testing materials totaling more than $800 million.
They had been set to go to trial next month, but that date has since been stricken.
Coleman had scheduled an evidentiary hearing next week in which members of Boutros’ office were expected to be called to testify about grand jury misconduct.
Unsealed grand jury transcripts showed Mecklenburg improperly “vouched” for the strength of the government’s case against the Broadview defendants, held conversations with two grand jurors outside of the proceedings and excused grand jurors who questioned the government’s narrative in the politically charged case.
The conduct was hidden away in redacted transcripts for months until late May, when Boutros personally dismissed that case and apologized after defense attorneys and a federal judge learned what happened in the grand jury.
That same day, attorneys for Ahmed filed a motion to dismiss his own indictment — a request later joined by Khan and Chaudhry — and learned for the first time that Mecklenburg had secured charges in this case using the same grand jury.
After reviewing transcripts from those proceedings, defense attorneys in this case made similar allegations against Mecklenburg — including that she had again vouched for the strength of the case, treated an indictment as a foregone conclusion, held off-the-record conversations with another attorney and used “inflammatory characterizations” of the defendants, including “name-calling and folk-wisdom metaphors.”
“The Government failed in its duty to the grand jury here,” Ahmed‘s attorney Dan Webb wrote in his dismissal request this week, adding that “the Government’s actions here irretrievably undermine the validity of the indictment because they are geared to improperly influence the grand jury’s decision.”
Ahmed fled the country after he was first charged and remains held in custody in Serbia, where he is fighting extradition back to the U.S. His case remains active, and MacArthur on Friday made clear she intends to move forward with the case against him.
A fourth defendant, Mohamed Sirajudeen, was set to plead guilty, but the status of his case is now up in the air following the abrupt dismissal of charges against two of his co-defendants.
