Are you aware of DOJ press releases?

[trof]

I wasn't until a friend sent me a pdf of one.
She labeled it 'another stinker'.
An Alabama businessman has been indicted by the same bunch that went after Siegelman.

Just take a look at this part:
"Instead, Goff kept the premiums and spent the money for his own personal
expenditures, including his exorbitant salary, lavish lifestyle,"

And this:
"Goff spent the premiums for his own unauthorized purposes."
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/alm/Press/goff_indictment.pdf
(It's a fight among some insurance companies about who owes who what in premiums collected.)

I don't know John Goff, or whether he's guilty as charged, and I am certainly not an attorney, but a couple of
things jump out at me:
"exorbitant salary and lavish lifestyle" and "spent the premiums for his own
unauthorized purposes".

This editorializing seems a bit over the top to me. I'm retired, living on
a modest income and in a home that's mostly mine, although Wells Fargo
Mortgage Company still retains claim to about 1/5th of its present value.
We need not go so far as Bangladesh or India; there are many right here in
the U.S. who would term my lifestyle 'lavish'.
One man's 'exorbitant salary and lavish lifestyle' is another man's middle
class.
And compared to Bill gates, I am a pauper.

This morning I made purchases at the liquor store and at Piggly Wiggly. I
don't know that they were 'authorized'. Who would 'authorize' them? Or
withhold that authorization? The money was in my possession, rightly or
wrongly, and I spent it. Ipso, facto.
If a robber is charged with theft, is he further charged that he spent
stolen money on 'unauthorized' purchases?
Ridiculous.

On further examination I see that the attached pdf is not the indictment
itself, but a press release from our old and dear friend (from the Siegelman prosecution)U.S. Attorney Louis
V. Franklin. Why is it necessary for the Department of Justice to issue a
press release concerning an indictment? It would seem to me that a simple
release of the indictment itself would serve their purpose and satisfy the
demands of the media as well.

And if a press release is to be issued, should it contain phrases and
modifiers apparently designed to prejudice those who read it? Including
potential jurors?

A stinker?
Yes, and to the high heavens.