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White Collar
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October 29, 2024
NY Judge Says Law Sealing Illicit Pot Shops Unconstitutional
A New York state judge ruled Tuesday that a newly enacted New York City law empowering municipal officials to shut down stores selling unlicensed marijuana products is unconstitutional.
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October 29, 2024
NYC Mayoral Straw Donor Scheme Sees Another Guilty Plea
A bookkeeper enmeshed in a straw donor scheme to benefit New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign copped to a violation on Tuesday as part of a deal with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, effectively closing out the case.
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October 29, 2024
Fla. Banker Agrees To Change Plea In Money Laundering Case
A Miami banker who is the son of Ecuador's ex-comptroller on Tuesday agreed to change his plea to guilty in a federal case alleging that he helped launder money for his father, who was convicted for his role in a corruption scandal that involved canceling fines for a hydroelectric dam in exchange for millions in bribes.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-ComEd GC Calls Madigan's Interest In Law Firm 'Strange'
A Jenner & Block LLP attorney and former Commonwealth Edison general counsel testified Tuesday that he found it "strange" to read ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was interested in the granular details of the utility's negotiations with Chicago law firm Reyes Kurson. Madigan's counsel, however, appeared to suggest a confidant and co-defendant had name-dropped the speaker in 2016 without actually talking to him.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Cleveland Councilman Can't Cut 6-Year Fraud Sentence
An Ohio federal judge will not allow a former Cleveland city councilman to get out of jail on compassionate release, ruling the ex-politician "has never demonstrated any remorse for his criminal conduct" and should serve the remainder of his six-year fraud sentence.
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October 29, 2024
NBCU Wants Trump's Immunity Arguments Broadcast
NBCUniversal is asking the D.C. federal court to provide a live feed of the "historic oral argument" over whether Donald Trump is immune from prosecution on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
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October 29, 2024
Sham Getty Stock Offer Lands Investor 10-Month Prison Term
A former Massachusetts corporate executive will serve 10 months in prison for launching a sham takeover bid for Seattle-based Getty Images Holdings to drive up its share price and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit, a Boston federal judge said Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
Building Co. Cops To Worker Scheme Tied To Tax Fraud
A truss building company pled guilty to conspiring to hide its employment of dozens of unauthorized workers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with a former employee, who admitted to filing false tax returns as part of the scheme, according to Florida federal court documents.
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October 29, 2024
Cannon Won't Recuse In Trump Shooting Suspect's Fla. Case
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon declined Tuesday to recuse herself from overseeing the case of a man charged with attempting to shoot former President Donald Trump, saying Trump's praise of her and reports that he would consider her for attorney general if elected are not enough to disqualify her.
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October 29, 2024
Mich. Top Court Won't Halt Ethics Claims Against Trump Allies
Michigan's Supreme Court has refused to stop disciplinary proceedings against Sidney Powell and other lawyers who advanced former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims.
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October 29, 2024
Bannon Released From Prison As Election, NY Trial Loom
Former President Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon was released from federal prison Tuesday after serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, a week before Election Day and a month and a half ahead of his next criminal trial in New York.
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October 29, 2024
Pa. DA Says ATF's Pot Patients Ban Doesn't Fit With Bruen
A Pennsylvania district attorney is urging a federal judge not to throw out his suit challenging a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives policy blocking medical cannabis patients from buying or owning firearms, saying the U.S. Supreme Court's recent precedent preempts the restriction.
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October 29, 2024
EBay, Ex-Execs Deny Fault For Harassment Of Bloggers
Online retailer eBay and a group of former executives say a 2019 harassment campaign against a pair of Massachusetts bloggers was solely the work of rogue employees, urging a Massachusetts federal court to rule they're not liable over the episode.
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October 29, 2024
Oil Trader's Brother Gets Probation, Fine For Brazilian Bribes
An ailing Connecticut man who admitted to helping his brother pull off a scheme to bribe officials at Brazil's state-owned oil company has been sentenced to probation, a fine and asset forfeiture, federal court records showed Tuesday.
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October 29, 2024
NJ Judge Exits Disbarred Atty's Suits Over Ties To State Bar
A disbarred New Jersey civil rights attorney persuaded a New Jersey federal judge to recuse herself from cases he has pending before her due to the "slim, but conceivable chance" of an appearance of impropriety stemming in part from her time as president of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
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October 29, 2024
2nd Circ. Says FBI Agents Immune From Suit Over No-Fly List
The Second Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision finding immunity for FBI agents who were accused of placing four Muslim men on a no-fly database after they declined to become informants.
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October 29, 2024
Ex-Jones Day Litigator Joins Honigman In Detroit
Honigman LLP has brought on a former Jones Day business and tort litigation associate as a business litigation practice group partner.
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October 29, 2024
Navy Reservist Gets 30 Months For Visa Letter Bribe Scheme
A Navy reserve commander was sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of taking bribes from Afghan nationals in exchange for recommendation letters for visa applications.
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October 28, 2024
Crypto Co. Operator Faces Money Laundering, Tax Charges
Federal prosecutors accused an Indiana property owner of laundering the proceeds of a crypto money transmitter — AurumXchange — that they say should have been licensed and of failing to file tax returns despite realizing six figure gains from investing the proceeds.
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October 28, 2024
Ontrak Founder Can't Wipe Novel Insider Trading Verdict
A California federal judge has upheld Ontrak founder Terren Peizer's first-of-its-kind insider trading conviction, holding that jurors had "more than enough evidence" to determine he based a $20 million share sale on nonpublic information that the health tech company was about to lose its biggest client.
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October 28, 2024
Ex-Atty Charged With $9.2M Commodities Ponzi Scheme
Federal prosecutors have charged a former New Orleans-based attorney with operating a Ponzi scheme, saying he promised dozens of individuals that he would invest their $9.2 million in low-risk commodities when he was really using the funds to gamble and to pay off personal expenses.
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October 28, 2024
Ex-'Bob's Burgers' Actor Gets 1 Year And 1 Day For Jan. 6 Riot
A D.C. federal judge on Monday sentenced former "Bob's Burgers" actor Jay James Johnston to a year and a day in prison after he pled guilty to a single felony count of obstructing officers during civil disorder for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
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October 28, 2024
Investment Firm's Head Indicted For Alleged Ponzi Scheme
Federal prosecutors have unsealed an indictment accusing a Utah man of carrying out a Ponzi scheme to embezzle millions of dollars from private investors who believed they were contributing to restaurant ventures.
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October 28, 2024
Leader Of Bankers' Group Calls For Anti-Fraud Watchdogs
The head of the nation's largest banking trade group on Monday called on Congress and the White House to establish a federal office of scam and fraud prevention to counteract the rising tide of fraud costing the U.S. tens of billions annually.
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October 28, 2024
Creditors Get Ponzi Finding In Wash. Bankruptcy Trial
A Washington state bankruptcy judge has found that real estate investment firm iCap Enterprises Inc. had operated as a Ponzi scheme, opening up the door for creditors to bring lawsuits and deduct some part of the losses from their taxes, attorneys for the official committee of iCap's unsecured creditors said Monday.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer
My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.
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Pros, Cons Of Disclosing Improper Employee Retention Credit
Employers considering the Internal Revenue Service’s second voluntary disclosure program, which allows companies to avoid penalties for erroneously claiming employee retention credits for the 2021 tax year by repaying the credits and naming the tax advisers who encouraged these abusive practices, should carefully weigh the program’s benefits against its potential drawbacks, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.
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Until Congress Acts, EDNY 'Insider Betting' Case Is Premature
The Eastern District of New York’s novel wire fraud conspiracy indictment in U.S. v. Pham may have prematurely heralded a new era in federal gambling enforcement, but in the absence of an “insider betting” statute, sportsbooks — not prosecutors — should be responsible for enforcing their terms of use, says attorney Jonathan Savella.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.
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When The Supreme Court Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade
Instead of grousing about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning long-standing precedents, attorneys should look to history for examples of how enterprising legal minds molded difficult decisions to their advantage, and figure out how to work with the cards they’ve been dealt, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Philly Project Case Renews Ongoing Fraud Theory Tug-Of-War
In its upcoming term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kousisis v. U.S., a case involving wire fraud convictions related to Philadelphia bridge repair projects, and may once again further rein in prosecutorial attempts to expand theories of fraud beyond core traditional property rights, say Jonathan Halpern and Kyra Rosenzweig at Holland & Knight.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Playing The Odds: Tackling Athlete Gambling Investigations
The rapid rise of sports gambling presents new and unique challenges, so it's important for attorneys to be able to navigate a dynamic web of complex, high-stakes relationships between athletes, the betting public, athletic organizations, sportsbooks and law enforcement — all while under intense public scrutiny, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Carbon Offset Case A Win For CFTC Enviro Fraud Task Force
An Illinois federal court's decision in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Ikkurty — earning the CFTC a sizeable monetary award that will likely incentivize similar enforcement pursuit — shows the impact of the commission's Environmental Fraud Task Force, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Whistleblowers Must Note 5 Key Differences Of DOJ Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently unveiled whistleblower awards program diverges in key ways from similar programs at other agencies, and individuals must weigh these differences and look first to programs with stronger, proven protections before blowing the whistle, say Stephen Kohn and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Open Questions 3 Years After 2nd Circ.'s Fugitive Ruling
The Second Circuit’s 2021 decision in U.S. v. Bescond, holding that a French resident indicted abroad did not meet the legal definition of a fugitive, deepened a circuit split on the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, and courts continue to grapple with the doctrine’s reach and applicability, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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How DOJ May Change FARA Exemption In Forthcoming Rule
Any day now, the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to issue proposed revisions to the Foreign Agents Registration Act regulations, and signs suggest that it will likely narrow one of FARA's broadest exemptions, which may compound public confusion about the law's requirements, says Murad Hussain at Arnold & Porter.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.