The Prosecutor, The Defendant and The Classroom

In the final session of the semester for Adjunct Professor M. Scott Peeler‘s White Collar Crime class at Carolina Law, students witnessed something extraordinary: a former federal prosecutor and the attorney he once prosecuted sharing their story, revealing the human dimensions of criminal justice that textbooks simply can’t capture. Peeler, a double Tar Heel (B.A. ’93; J.D. ’97) who has taught this popular course for six years, saved the best for last.

His featured guests, Rashmi Airan, a ’93 Carolina alum, and Joe Capone, a career federal prosecutor, captivated students as they recounted their journey from courtroom adversaries to unexpected allies in legal education.

Peeler and Airan share their own history. Both arrived at Carolina as undergraduates in 1989, where they became friends and later rivals when they ran against each other for Student Body President in 1992. “I never expected when we ran against each other for Student Body President that we’d be here discussing this decades later,” Peeler remarked with a smile as he guided the conversation through difficult terrain.

After an Ivy League legal education and Wall Street experience, Airan’s story begins in 2007, when as a solo practitioner with young children, she was approached by real estate developers seeking an attorney to handle condominium closings. As a first-generation immigrant of Indian descent raised with high expectations, she was eager to build financial stability for her family and took on the client without conducting proper due diligence.

What followed became a classic case of mortgage fraud. The developers offered secret incentives to buyers, including rental guarantees and covering down payments, without disclosing these arrangements to the banks funding the mortgages. As the closing attorney, Airan functioned as a fiduciary to the banks while failing to disclose critical information about the deals.

“I rationalized that I didn’t know half the things that were happening,” Airan explained to the students. “But the truth is I knew other things were happening, and I was not disclosing them.”

For Capone, who specialized in mortgage fraud cases, the evidence mounted steadily. When FBI agents first interviewed Airan in 2011, she made the critical mistake of speaking without an attorney present – a decision she now uses as a cautionary tale for future lawyers.

The classroom fell silent as Airan described her arraignment. She stood before the judge, pleaded not guilty, signed the signature bond, and then was handcuffed and shackled in front of her parents and husband.

“It was one of the most gut-wrenching moments to have my parents watch me,” she shared.

Law students absorbed this raw emotion, experiencing the human consequences of legal decisions in ways no case study could convey.

The narrative shifted when Airan described her “come to Jesus moment” when her defense attorney finally convinced her to face reality. This pivotal meeting led to her cooperation with prosecutors, transforming her relationship with Capone.

“Inside my gut, I knew something was wrong, but I wasn’t asking the right questions,” Airan admitted. “As attorneys, we’re trained to do our due diligence, to ask those hard questions. That’s our role, our job, our fiduciary responsibility. I didn’t do that.”

Capone offered a prosecutor’s perspective that deepened the story. “Instead of keeping your lawyer hat on and stepping back, the lawyer gets excited to help the client do the deal, however they can.”

Students gained insight into prosecutorial decision-making as Capone explained why he pursued Airan’s cooperation even after she initially misled investigators.

“She was at the dead center and in the best position to explain the whole scheme,” Capone told the class. “My best case would be through her.”

After pleading guilty to conspiracy charges, Airan received a sentence of a year and a day in federal prison. Upon release, she transformed her experience into an opportunity to educate others about ethics and decision-making. Today, Airan works as a speaker and consultant on organizational ethics, having partnered with numerous Fortune 100 companies to share her story of transformation.

In a poignant moment before Airan’s sentencing hearing, Capone entered the defense preparation room to give her a reassuring hug.

“In all my years, I’ve never had a prosecutor come in and hug a defendant,” Airan’s defense attorney had remarked, stunned by how far their relationship had evolved.

Professor Peeler’s students experienced something beyond case analysis or legal theory, gaining insight into the real-world complexities of white-collar criminal cases and the profound human impact of legal decisions.

“This story is about so much we’ve studied and a true ‘there but for the grace of God go I’ tale,” Peeler noted as he moderated the discussion, drawing attention to the ethical responsibilities that lawyers bear.

As Carolina Law prepares students for the challenges of legal practice, this unlikely partnership between prosecutor and defendant revealed what casebooks cannot – the human stories of mistakes, consequences, and redemption that these future attorneys will remember long after graduation day.