[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 20-14223 ________________________

D.C. Docket No. 1:20-mj-03278-JJO-1

In re:

Sealed Search Warrant and Application for a Warrant by Telephone or Other Reliable Electronic Means. ____________________________________________________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee, versus MORDECHAI KORF, URIEL LABER, CHAIM SHOCHET, OPTIMA INTERNATINAL, LLC, OPTIMA VENTURES, LLC, OPTIMA MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC, OPTIMA ACQUISITIONS, LLC, NIAGARA LASALLE CORPORATION, OPTIMA GROUP, GEORGIAN AMERICAN ALLOYS, INC., CC METALS AND ALLOYS, LLC, FELMAN PRODUCTIONS, LLC, FELMAN TRADING, INC., USCA11 Case: 20-14223 Date Filed: 08/30/2021 Page: 2 of 32

FELMAN TRADING AMERICAS, INC.,, GEORGIAN AMERICAN ALLOYS SARL, GEORGIAN AMERICAN ALLOYS MANAGEMENT, LLC, OPTIMA FIXED INCOME, LLC, OPTIMA HOSPITALITY, LLC, OPTIMA 777, LLC, OPTIMA 925, LLC, OPTIMA 925 II, LLC, OPTIMA 1300, LLC, OPTIMA 1375, LLC, OPTIMA 1375 II, LLC, OPTIMA 55 PUBLIC SQUARE, LLC, OPTIMA 7171, LLC, OPTIMA 500, LLC, OPTIMA CBD INVESTMENTS, LLC, CBD 500, LLC,

Movants - Appellants.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________

(August 30, 2021) Before MARTIN, ROSENBAUM and LUCK, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:

This case requires us to consider whether the use of a government filter team to review seized materials that are claimed to be privileged necessarily violates the privilege holder’s rights. Here, the government obtained and executed a search warrant at a suite of offices where the Optima Family Businesses were located. Among the materials seized were items from the office of an in-house attorney. The

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Optima Family Businesses and their owners, managers and controllers (collectively, the “Intervenors”) assert attorney-client and work-product privilege over at least some of these documents.

They filed a motion under Rule 41(g), Fed. R. Crim. P., to obtain injunctive relief prohibiting the United States’s filter team—which included attorneys and staff who were not involved in the criminal investigation of the Optima Family Companies and the individual owners, managers, and controllers—from reviewing any potentially privileged documents unless either the Intervenors agree or the court, after conducting its own privilege review, orders disclosure.

The district court held a hearing on the Intervenors’ motion and imposed a modified filter protocol but denied the Intervenors’ request to prohibit anyone from the government from reviewing potentially privileged documents unless the Intervenors agree or the court orders disclosure. The Intervenors now appeal that denial. After careful consideration and with the benefit of oral argument, we now affirm the district court’s order denying the Intervenors’ motion to enjoin the use of a filter team. We agree with the district court that the Intervenors have not showed a substantial likelihood of success on their argument that government filter teams per se violate privilege holders’ rights.

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I.

The Northern District of Ohio was conducting a criminal investigation into money laundering, conspiracy to money l