This is John Grisham level shenanigans. Somebody needs to lose their license over this.
These are the rules for the DC Circuit:
Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 5.3: Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants (c) A lawyer shall be responsible for conduct of such a person that would be a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct if engaged in by a lawyer if: (1) The lawyer requests or, with knowledge of the specific conduct, ratifies the conduct involved; or (2) The lawyer has direct supervisory authority over the person
Comment [2] Just as lawyers in private practice may direct the conduct of investigators who may be independent contractors, prosecutors and other government lawyers may effectively direct the conduct of police or other governmental investigative personnel, even though they may not have, strictly speaking, formal authority to order actions by such personnel, who report to the chief of police or the head of another enforcement agency. Such prosecutors or other government lawyers have a responsibility with respect to police or investigative personnel, whose conduct they effectively direct, equivalent to that of private lawyers with respect to investigators whom they retain.
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