Thread by @TimInHonolulu

1. I think @GenFlynn may come to regret that he accepted the @POTUS pardon that purports to pardon a whole slew of major crimes defined by the secret scope of the Mueller special counsel probe. To explain why he may regret it, first a little personal story for background.

2. When I graduated from law school I went to work at a Bankruptcy boutique firm. We did heavy-lift bankruptcy litigation. My fist two years was mostly involved in unwinding the largest Ponzi scheme in state history. I was tasked with drafting huge motions for summary judgment

3. against a number of unwitting participants in the Ponzi scheme. It seemed like we sued every powerful person in the state. In most of the motions there was a document that I had to include to prove the crimes that gave rise to the Ponzi participants' civil

4. liabiity. The judgment of conviction. That established the fact of the crime that could be used against partners and co-conspirators. No trial issue.

Reading Flynn's pardon in the context of my present knowledge of the impact of a pardon on civil liability, I have a strong

5. suspicion that a federal judge might rule that Flynn has admitted to committing every crime that Mueller was investigating. In contrast, Flynn's original plea was to one count of the 18 USC 1001 false statement. That crime has no civil law liability that I'm aware of.

6. But Flynn has now agreed he committed dozens of crimes many of which are RICO predicate acts and can form the basis for Civil RICO liability. So any business harmed by Flynn's conduct can add all those crimes as Flynn's admitted criminal predicate acts and treble all their

7. damages. Only way Flynn might avoid the broad scope of his pardon would be to go through each crime and establish whether it applies to him. Until then, acceptance of a pardon without regard for the civil liability attached may turn out to be a very bad deal for Mr. Flynn.