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White Collar
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August 08, 2024
Wash. Firm, Atty Say Rehashed $20M Con Claims Can't Stick
A Washington attorney and her former law firm have urged a Washington judge to toss a lawsuit alleging they were part of a scheme to con an asset management company out of $20 million, arguing that they were following instructions as escrow agents making sure funds were disbursed.
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August 08, 2024
11th Circ. Vacates Man's Denaturalization Over Drug Offense
An Eleventh Circuit panel unanimously threw out a district court ruling denaturalizing a man who became a U.S. citizen over his participation in a drug conspiracy, finding he should not be precluded from litigating the issue and arguing that his participation began after he became a citizen.
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August 08, 2024
IRS Agents Seek To Join Hunter Biden's Tax Privacy Case
Accusations of wrongdoing against two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who said the government downplayed tax fraud allegations against Hunter Biden give the pair standing to intervene in Biden's privacy case against the U.S. government, the men told a federal court.
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August 08, 2024
SEC Wins Jurisdiction Over German As Sanction For Default
A German national who the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says has ignored discovery requests in its attempt to recover proceeds from a $150 million international pump and dump scheme involving his son is subject to personal jurisdiction in the U.S., a Boston federal judge ordered as a sanction.
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August 08, 2024
Feds Seek 2 Years For Accountant In $8M Payroll Tax Scheme
A New Jersey moving company's head accountant should serve a two-year sentence for being the "nerve center" of a nearly $8 million payroll tax scheme, prosecutors told a New York federal judge in a bid to deny the man's request for a noncustodial sentence.
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August 08, 2024
No Proof Mining Co. Helped Heiress Hide Cash, Judge Says
A Colorado state judge said Wednesday a creditor seeking to recover a $20 million judgment against a Brazilian airline heiress did not back up claims a company participated in the heiress' scheme to shield money in family accounts and gold mining and gem smuggling operations.
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August 08, 2024
Conservative Activists Push To Ax Robocall Election Charges
Two conservative activists being prosecuted in Michigan for robocalls aimed at discouraging mail-in voting have told an appellate court that their criminal charges must be tossed under the Michigan Supreme Court's recent interpretation of a voter interference law.
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August 08, 2024
Judge Won't Fully Seal Atty's Trial Transcript In Contempt Bid
A group of families that secured a $42 million settlement against a North Carolina county over coercive child custody agreements can't have state trial transcripts sealed that allegedly reveal how much money certain minors got — at least not in their entirety, a federal judge has ruled.
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August 08, 2024
Mass. Justices Toss Conviction Over 'Vague' Jailhouse Bribe
Massachusetts' top court on Thursday vacated a man's witness intimidation conviction based on "vague and amorphous" promises he made during jailhouse phone calls with his fiancée that prosecutors claimed were bribes.
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August 08, 2024
McElroy Deutsch Seeks To Ax Former CFO's Ch. 11 Case
McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP urged a New Jersey bankruptcy court Thursday to throw out a Chapter 11 filing from its former chief financial officer, who has been sent to prison for stealing over $1 million from the firm, slamming it as a bad faith "tactical maneuver" to stall ongoing civil litigation.
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August 08, 2024
Willis Defends Staying On Trump's Ga. Election Case
Georgia prosecutors have pushed back against former President Donald Trump's request for appellate intervention in his election interference case, arguing District Attorney Fani T. Willis doesn't have a conflict of interest and Trump failed to persuade the trial court that she had a conflict due to a relationship with a former outside counsel.
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August 08, 2024
50 Cent Beats Liquor Consultant's 'Ridiculous' Wiretap Claim
A frustrated New York state judge on Thursday tossed a former Beam Suntory Inc. sales contractor's reworked wiretapping allegations against rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in a $3 million embezzlement dispute, calling the claims "ridiculous" and an "obvious" delay tactic.
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August 08, 2024
Exec Admits Price-Fixing $100M Of Rebar For Storm Rebuild
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the guilty plea Wednesday of a former Puerto Rico steel distributor executive who admitted to fixing prices on rebar used for post-hurricane reconstruction, in a conspiracy that impacted more than $100 million in his company's sales.
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August 08, 2024
Rising Star: Akin's Thomas Moyer
Thomas Moyer of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP represented a multinational bank caught in a legal and political crossfire between then-President Donald Trump and two congressional committees and led his firm's pro bono work in a high-profile case involving the Lafayette Square protesters in Washington, earning him a spot among the white collar law practitioners under 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 07, 2024
FTX, Alameda Agree To Pay $12.7B To Resolve CFTC's Action
A New York federal judge Wednesday signed off on a consent order requiring FTX Trading Ltd. and its affiliated trading firm to pay back $8.7 billion to those duped by disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and disgorge an additional $4 billion.
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August 07, 2024
Exec Unlikely To Get New Trial In SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Suit
A California federal judge said at a hearing Wednesday that he wasn't inclined to grant a new trial in a novel SEC "shadow trading" case, saying "there's no question" that a former executive of Medivation, a pharmaceutical company, knew that he was using inside information from his company when he purchased a rival's stock.
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August 07, 2024
'Something Sketchy Was Going On,' Girardi Client Tells Jury
A man horribly injured in a gas explosion told a Los Angeles federal jury Wednesday that Tom Girardi lied to him for years about the true details of his civil settlement and withheld millions he was owed, but it took him years to figure out "something sketchy was going on."
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August 07, 2024
4th Circ. Approves Payout Plan In $550M Ponzi Case
Investors defrauded in a $550 million Ponzi scheme can't reverse a receiver's asset distribution plan on the basis of arguments that the plan unfairly divides up recovered funds among claimants, the Fourth Circuit has determined.
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August 07, 2024
DOD Contractor Wants No Prison For Parts Sales From Turkey
A Florida defense contractor who admitted to using a front company to supply critical military components that were made in Turkey asked Tuesday for a non-prison sentence, arguing that her participation in the scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Defense was driven by financial desperation and a misplaced trust in those who ran the operation.
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August 07, 2024
Bank Dropped From Suit Over Alleged $100M Ponzi Scheme
Washington-based First Fed Bank and its brass have been dropped from a lawsuit claiming they aided a $100 million Ponzi scheme to defraud would-be investors in a water-vending machine company.
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August 07, 2024
Santos, Feds Agree Jurors' Identities Should Be Secret
Expelled congressman George Santos wants jurors' identities protected for his trial next month on theft and identity theft charges, telling a New York federal judge on Tuesday that prosecutors feel the same given the "astounding" media attention on the case.
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August 07, 2024
6th Circ. Backs 20 Years For Chinese Spy Who Targeted GE
The Sixth Circuit upheld a 20-year prison sentence for a Chinese spy convicted of espionage for trying to steal trade secrets from General Electric's GE Aviation unit, noting in an opinion unsealed Wednesday the punishment was reasonable as he continuously pursued the confidential information using sophisticated tradecraft processes for several years.
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August 07, 2024
Pipe Co. Exec Says Criminal Antitrust Charges Unconstitutional
A former executive of an aluminum pipe company defending the Fourth Circuit's reversal of his bid-rigging conviction has told the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that all criminal antitrust prosecutions under Section 1 of the Sherman Act are unconstitutional, claiming they violate "fundamental constitutional principles" of nondelegation and objectivity.
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August 07, 2024
SEC Accuses Urban Commons REIT Founders Of $70M Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the founders of the Urban Commons real estate investment trust of running a pair of fraud schemes involving investments in U.S.-based hotels that the regulator said collectively cost investors $70 million.
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August 07, 2024
6th Circ. Voids Man's Death Penalty Over 'Judicial Malfunction'
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday granted a capital defendant's habeas petition based on a trial court's decision to recruit the prosecutor to ghostwrite a "corrupt opinion" issuing the death penalty and refusing to allow the defendant to proffer relevant mitigating evidence at his re-sentencing, in violation of his constitutional rights.
Expert Analysis
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Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome
The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes
Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.
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'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers
A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Setting Goals For Kicking Corruption Off FIFA World Cup Field
The unprecedented tri-country nature of the 2026 men's World Cup will add to the complexity of an already complicated event, but best practices can help businesses stay on the right side of anti-corruption rules during this historic competition, say Sandra Moser and Emily Ahdieh at Morgan Lewis.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Don't Fall On That Hill: Keys To Testifying Before Congress
Because congressional testimony often comes with political, reputational and financial risks in addition to legal pitfalls, witnesses and their attorneys should take a multifaceted approach to preparation, walking a fine line between legal and business considerations, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Series
Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals
Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.