Notable cases
In 2001, Chin rejected a motion by the Parents Television Council (PTC) to dismiss a lawsuit that the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) filed against it.[14] At the time, the PTC had been campaigning for advertisers to withdraw sponsorship of WWE's flagship program SmackDown because it believed that the program caused the violent deaths of four children. Chin's ruling came on the grounds that WWF had a sound basis in suing the PTC over defamation, interference with business, and copyright infringement.[15] PTC and WWE settled out of court and, as part of the settlement agreement, the PTC paid WWF $3.5 million USD and PTC president Bozell issued a public apology.[16]
In Fox v. Franken, Chin denied Fox News Channel (who alleged a trademark violation) an injunction against Al Franken's Book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.[17]
Chin also presided over the criminal prosecution of Larry Stewart, the handwriting expert who was accused of committing perjury during the trial of Martha Stewart (no relation).[18] Larry Stewart was acquitted by a jury.[19]
Chin presided over the criminal trial of Pak Dong-seon in connection with Pak's alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program. Pak was convicted by a jury and sentenced by Chin to 5 years in prison.[20]
Chin dismissed the suit Sam Sloan vs. Paul Truong and Susan Polgar in which Sloan accused Susan Polgar and Paul Truong of posting thousands of obscene "Fake Sam Sloan" remarks in his name over a two-year period in an effort to win election to the board of the United States Chess Federation (Polgar and Truong were elected to the board and Sloan was defeated).
Chin presided over the criminal trial of Oscar Wyatt, the Texas oil executive accused of making kick-backs to the Saddam Hussein regime during the UN Oil-For-Food Program. In the middle of his trial, Wyatt changed his plea to guilty as part of a plea bargain with the government.[21]
He was assigned the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement case on January 8, 2009, after the death of the previous supervising judge. On March 23, 2011, Chin rejected Google's plan to digitize every book published, saying the plan violated copyright laws. In November 2013, Chin dismissed Authors Guild et al. v. Google.[22] On April 18, 2016, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal.[23]
In 2012, Chin presided over the criminal sentencing of Anil Kumar, a senior executive of McKinsey and Company in the Galleon Group insider trading investigation. Chin sentenced Kumar to 2 years of probation.[24]
In 2016, Chin joined the panel that upheld Tom Brady's suspension by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the Deflatgate scandal.[25]
In May 2024, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the First Amendment case of National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo, favoring the NRA's case against New York insurance regulator Maria Vullo. This ruling overturned the decision of Chin and his two fellow Second Circuit jurists, Susan Carney and Rosemary Pooler.[26][27]
U.S. v. Madoff
In 2009, Chin presided over U.S. v. Madoff. Madoff admitted to committing securities fraud via a Ponzi scheme starting in the early 1990s, which involved potentially as much as $65 billion. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal charges relating to the scheme. Following his pleading, Chin revoked Madoff's $10 million bail and ordered him to report immediately to jail at the request of the federal prosecutors, citing that Madoff had both the resources and the incentive to flee before his formal sentencing.[28] On June 29, 2009, Chin rejected a sentencing request from Madoff's attorneys for between 12-20 years imprisonment with the possibility of parole, and accepted the prosecutor's recommendation to sentence Madoff to a prison term of 150 years which he bluntly stated would put Madoff behind bars until he died.[29] Chin explained that imposing the maximum sentence on Madoff was appropriate because he had concluded that Madoff's crimes were "staggering" and "extraordinary evil" and wanted the sentence to have a stronger deterrent effect.[30]
In 2020, Madoff requested compassionate release due to terminal kidney disease. He also publicly pleaded with Chin to accept a telephone call from prison so he could make his case for clemency. Chin denied both the overall request and the phone query, writing that his sentence was meant to ensure Madoff died in prison, and that he had no subsequent reason to believe he deserved any differently.[31] He also said that the notion that he would be swayed by a phone call was ridiculous, and that he didn't know (or care) what Madoff felt would be the reason that such a call was warranted.
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