White Collar

  • October 25, 2024

    Dental Exec Flees Ahead Of Possible 7-Year Fraud Sentence

    An arrest warrant was issued Friday for the former CEO of a dental device company who pled guilty to defrauding investors out of $10.7 million after he did not show up for his sentencing hearing, where Washington federal prosecutors were asking for seven years in prison.

  • October 25, 2024

    Feds Seek 6½ Years For Ex-Takeda Worker Over Invoice Fraud

    Federal prosecutors in Boston want a former senior Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. employee jailed for 6½ years for the complex scam she pulled off with her boyfriend that raked in millions of dollars through fake invoices, according to a Friday filing.

  • October 25, 2024

    Va. Man Gets 7½ Years For $15M Gov't Contract Investor Scam

    A Virginia man was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison for defrauding dozens of investors out of $15 million by misleading them into believing that his company had millions of dollars in contracts with federal and state government agencies.

  • October 25, 2024

    High Court Bar's Future: Mitchell Law's Jonathan F. Mitchell

    The pantheon of U.S. solicitors general doesn't include many lawyers who've openly challenged the U.S. Supreme Court's authority or sought to undermine its landmark precedents. But there aren't many lawyers like Jonathan F. Mitchell, a crusading conservative who rescued former President Donald Trump's reelection run — and in the process positioned himself to become the government's top oral advocate.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ga. Woman Gets 12 Years For $30M COVID Fraud Scheme

    A Georgia woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for her role in filing more than 5,000 fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment insurance claims with the Georgia Department of Labor, which resulted in at least $30 million in stolen benefits.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Pleads Not Guilty, Gets $10M Home Bail

    Former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries pled not guilty on Friday to charges of operating a sex trafficking and prostitution ring that preyed on male models, and was released to home confinement on a $10 million bond.

  • October 25, 2024

    Heinz Charity Ends Embezzlement Suit Against Ex-Adviser

    The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments has dropped a federal lawsuit accusing a former technology adviser of steering nearly $1 million of work to a sham company, according to court filings.

  • October 25, 2024

    Election Records Law Needs Update, Mich. Justice Says

    The Michigan Supreme Court declined on Friday to revive criminal charges against an election worker who downloaded a copy of a voter list onto a personal thumb drive, prompting one justice to argue the law he was cleared of violating is out of touch in the digital age.  

  • October 25, 2024

    Pharmacy Must Pay $39.2M In Conn. Kickback Case

    A defunct compounding pharmacy must pay $39.2 million in damages and penalties for its role in a kickback scheme that made illegal payments to Connecticut state employees and retirees, a state court judge ruled Friday while letting the company's proprietor off the hook.

  • October 25, 2024

    'Magician' Tax Preparer Close To Plea Deal In $100M Case

    A New York City-based tax preparer who earned the nickname "the magician," allegedly making $15 million while fraudulently depriving the IRS of $100 million, is in "fruitful" plea talks with prosecutors, a Manhattan federal judge heard Friday.

  • October 25, 2024

    Woman Accused Of Threatening To Kill Judge Kacsmaryk

    Prosecutors have indicted a woman who allegedly threatened death on a Texas federal judge a week after he blocked federal approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, saying the woman sent communications promising murder and assault around April 2023, according to an unsealed indictment.

  • October 25, 2024

    Trump Co-Defendants Stuck In Ga. State Court, 11th Circ. Says

    The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday rejected attempts from four co-defendants of former President Donald Trump to have their Georgia election interference cases moved from state to federal court.

  • October 25, 2024

    Ga. Atty Can't Beat Contempt Charge Over Trial Tardiness

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday rejected an attorney's argument that his due process rights were violated when he was found in contempt, finding that his tardiness to a trial — where the judge sent the jury home due to the absence of the lawyer and his client — was direct contempt.

  • October 25, 2024

    IRS Agents To Appeal Exclusion From Biden Tax Privacy Case

    The IRS agents accused of improperly revealing Hunter Biden's tax return information in his privacy lawsuit against the U.S. government told a D.C. federal court Friday that they're planning to challenge a decision preventing them from personally intervening in the case.

  • October 25, 2024

    Baldwin 'Rust' Judge Rejects State's Bid To Revive Case

    A New Mexico judge declined to reconsider a decision throwing out the "Rust" movie shooting case against actor-producer Alec Baldwin based on prosecutorial misconduct, according to an order released Friday.

  • October 25, 2024

    Adams Rips Feds, Calling Explanation For Leaks 'Far-Fetched'

    Attorneys for New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Friday renewed their claims that the prosecutors handling his bribery and corruption case leaked secret grand jury information to the press, arguing that the alternative explanation that either Adams or his co-defendants made the leaks was a "far-fetched claim."

  • October 25, 2024

    Conn. Justices Will Hear Ex-Dem Chief's Ballot Fraud Appeal

    The Connecticut Supreme Court has agreed to review a lower court's refusal to let former Stamford Democratic Party chair John Mallozzi find a handwriting expert to counter testimony during criminal fraud proceedings that he had forged signatures on phony ballots in a 2015 municipal election.

  • October 24, 2024

    Trump Again Argues Jack Smith's Appointment Was Illegal

    Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said a D.C. federal court should throw out prosecutors' election interference case, repeating the argument he made in the classified documents case against him in Florida and contending that the appointment of special prosecutor Jack Smith was illegal.

  • October 24, 2024

    Colo. Justices Grill State On Biz Names, ID Theft Law

    Colorado Supreme Court justices pressed state prosecutors Thursday on why a man's reversed conviction for identity theft should be reinstated, saying the identity theft law's use of "name" as a type of personal information seems to suggest the law refers only to people and not corporations.

  • October 24, 2024

    Why A Top Detroit-Area Judge Isn't Scrapping Virtual Hearings

    Despite signing a public editorial declaring that virtual hearings erode the public's trust in the judiciary, the Detroit area's top circuit court judge told Law360 on Thursday that she has no plans to do away with remote options for willing litigants. However, she insisted that the spate of Zoom proceedings had dulled some lawyers' skills and led to delays in some cases because of that lack of preparation. 

  • October 24, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says Healthcare Arbitrations Were Properly Halted

    The Second Circuit affirmed Thursday that a lower court properly halted a group of healthcare providers from pursuing thousands of arbitrations against State Farm as part of an alleged massive fraudulent scheme, ruling in a novel opinion the injunction did not violate federal arbitration law.

  • October 24, 2024

    SEC Says Broker Still Owes $3.5M Over Pre-IPO Stock Scheme

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants a Manhattan federal court to enforce its nearly $3.5 million administrative order against an unregistered broker-dealer and its managing member, who allegedly made over $65 million selling interests in a portfolio of companies that hadn't yet gone public.

  • October 24, 2024

    LA County DA Moves To Trim Menendez Brothers' Sentences

    Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Thursday that he's filing to reduce the life sentences of Erik and Lyle Menendez for murdering their parents in 1989, a move that could make the brothers immediately eligible for parole.

  • October 24, 2024

    Atty Jim Walden Launches Campaign To Be NYC Mayor

    Jim Walden of Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP entered the New York City 2025 mayoral race this week as a new challenger to the recently indicted incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, running on a vow to fight corruption in the city.

  • October 24, 2024

    Survivors Say They Were Excluded From Tulsa Committee

    The two remaining survivors of one of the deadliest incidents of mass race violence in the country's history say the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has excluded them from a commission geared toward recommending how reparations can be made for the 1921 destruction of a once-thriving Black community in Indian Country.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Unpacking Executive Privilege, Contempt In Recent Cases

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    The U.S. House of Representatives’ recent move to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress is the latest example in a growing trend of executive privilege disputes, and serves as a warning to private citizens and corporate leaders who are in communication with the president, says Kristina Moore at Womble Bond.

  • Bankruptcy Trustees Need More FinCEN Guidance

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    Recent FinCEN consent orders in two North Carolina bankruptcy cases show that additional guidance is necessary for most types of fiduciaries overseeing bankruptcy estates or other insolvency vehicles, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O’Connor.

  • Jarkesy Ruling May Redefine Jury Role In Patent Fraud

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    Regardless of whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jarkesy ruling implicates the direction of inequitable conduct, which requires showing that the patentee made material statements or omissions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the decision has created opportunities for defendants to argue more substantively for jury trials than ever before, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • The OIG Report: DOJ's Own Whistleblower Program Has Holes

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    A recent Office of the Inspector General memo found that the U.S. Department of Justice’s whistleblower program failed to protect federal employees whose security clearances were allegedly suspended in retaliation — a serious cause for concern that could have a potential chilling effect on would-be whistleblowers, says Diana Shaw at Wiley.

  • Attorneys Can Benefit From Reverse-Engineering Their Cases

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    Trial advocacy programs often teach lawyers to loosely track the progression of a lawsuit during preparation — case analysis, then direct examination, then cross-examination, openings and closings — but reverse-engineering cases by working backward from opening and closing statements can streamline the process and also improve case strategy, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Enron Law Is Still Threat To Execs After Justices' Jan. 6 Ruling

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Fischer v. U.S. decision is a setback for prosecutors’ obstruction charges against Jan. 6 defendants, it also represents a strong endorsement of the post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s original purpose, serving as a corporate compliance reminder for executives, say Michael Peregrine and Ashley Hoff at McDermott.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • What Cos. Should Note In DOJ's New Whistleblower Pilot

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    After the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a new whistleblower pilot program last week — continuing its efforts to incentivize individual reporting of misconduct — companies should review the eligibility criteria, update their compliance programs and consider the risks and benefits of making their own self-disclosures, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    After Chevron: New Lines Of Attack For FCA Defense Bar

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    Loper Bright has given defense counsel new avenues to overcome the False Claims Act elements of falsity and scienter, as any FCA claim based upon ambiguous statutory terms can no longer stand solely on agency regulations to establish the statute's meaning, which is itself necessary to satisfy the FCA's basic requirements, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.

  • Autonomy Execs' Acquittal Highlights Good Faith Instruction

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    The recent acquittal of two former Autonomy executives demonstrates that a good faith jury instruction can be the cornerstone of an effective defense strategy in white collar criminal cases, in part because the concept of good faith is a human experience every juror can relate to, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • 3 Ways To Lower Insider Trading Risk After First 10b5-1 Case

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice's insider trading prosecution against the former CEO of Ontrack based on alleged abuse of a Rule 10b5-1 safe harbor plan — designed to allow executives to sell their companies' securities without liability — companies and individuals should take steps to avoid enacting similar plans in bad faith, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

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