My great-uncle was the late Gov. Otto Kerner of Illinois. In 1960 he carried the state by over 500,000 votes; Kennedy won it by a questionable 8000 or so votes. he was re-elected in 1964. Later he chaired what became known as the Kerner Commission, an investigation into the root causes of the massive civil disruptions of the 60's.
Nixon's IRS spent, by their own admission, over $6 Million investigating him. They did a forensic accounting of his income and expenses. All they found was a $75,000 race-track stock profit which Kerner took as long-term capital gain, but they called a bribe and should have been treated as ordinary income. But Kerner was disliked by Nixon. His prosecutor was James Thompson who parlayed the case into the Governorship, from there he made millions. He is now the boss of Winston Strawn, a powerful Chicago law firm. Thompson as prosecutor intimidated future witnesses, even showed up unexpectedly at their homes, for a "friendly visit." Those people were offered a choice of immunity or prison, a choice not permitted in Great Britain's courts---last I heard. I almost get sick thinking about what happened to Otto, a wonderful man. You are not going to beat the Feds if they really want to ruin you; should you get lucky and win, unless you are very rich, you'll be ruined financially.
Of course, I despise Thompson, but he gave me and many others a good laugh when he blew away $20 Million of his partners' money defending for free that old hack and thief Gov. George Ryan. I'd pay a few bucks to listen to tapes of what when on at the partners meetings as Thompson got them deeper and deeper into the --- mud.