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White Collar
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August 06, 2024
Pakistani Man Plotted To Kill US Officials, Feds Say
A Pakistani man with ties to Iran is in custody Tuesday as the U.S. Department of Justice says it foiled his plans to assassinate U.S. government officials, which one Republican House member said included former President Donald Trump.
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August 06, 2024
Girardi Used Client Funds As 'Personal Piggy Bank,' Jury Told
The prosecution and defense painted starkly different portraits of Tom Girardi during opening statements Tuesday in the disbarred attorney's criminal fraud trial, with a California federal prosecutor saying Girardi stole millions from vulnerable clients while his lawyer described him as an "old man" losing his memory and exploited by an underling.
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August 06, 2024
Ill. Jury Hits Cop With $22.5M Wrongful Conviction Verdict
An Illinois federal jury awarded $22.5 million on Monday to the estate of a man who served 22 years in prison for a 1995 arson-murder he was later acquitted of committing.
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August 06, 2024
Feds Say Bid-Rigging Bros. Aren't Owed New Trial
Federal prosecutors moved Monday to block two brothers' bids for a new trial after they were convicted last month of involvement in a coastal Georgia concrete bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme, telling a judge a few offhand remarks from witnesses can't topple the mountain of evidence behind the guilty verdict.
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August 06, 2024
Possible Juror Naps Don't Tank Conviction, Conn. Justices Rule
A man's murder conviction and 65-year prison sentence will stand despite his protests that the trial judge should have intervened more strongly when a juror seemed to fall asleep several times on the first day of testimony, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
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August 06, 2024
NYC Prof Found Guilty Of Acting As A Secret Chinese Spy
A Brooklyn federal jury on Tuesday unanimously convicted an academic and author of secretly acting as an agent of the Chinese government by feeding information about Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activists to China's intel service, following a weeklong jury trial, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
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August 06, 2024
7th Circ. Upholds Bitcoin Fraudster's 8-Year Sentence
The Seventh Circuit on Monday rejected the resentencing bid of a Nigerian man serving eight years in prison for carrying out an $8 million bitcoin fraud scheme, saying a lower court properly considered that he tried but failed to steal more than $51 million in crafting the appropriate sentencing range for his type of crime.
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August 06, 2024
Powell, Trump Attys Seek To Halt Mich. Bar Discipline Cases
Sidney Powell and other attorneys behind a legal challenge to Michigan's 2020 presidential election results want bar discipline proceedings paused while they ask the Michigan Supreme Court to step in and dismiss the professional misconduct complaints.
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August 06, 2024
Ex-Pfizer Worker Who Traded On Paxlovid Secrets Gets 9 Mos.
A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a former Pfizer Inc. statistician from New Jersey to nine months in prison Tuesday after a jury convicted him of insider trading on secrets about his former company's COVID-19 therapy trials for an illegal $272,000 profit.
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August 06, 2024
39 Law Firms Call On 6th Circ. To Reverse FirstEnergy Ruling
Dozens of law firms have signed on to an amicus curiae brief urging the Sixth Circuit to reverse a decision in a FirstEnergy shareholder litigation, the latest voices in the legal, insurance and business communities to call on the appellate court to reverse an Ohio federal judge's ruling they warn will threaten attorney-client privilege.
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August 06, 2024
'Rust' Prosecutor Says Confused Judge Tossed Baldwin Case
A New Mexico prosecutor has denied hiding exculpatory evidence or lying under oath during Alec Baldwin's botched trial in the "Rust" shooting, contending in a court filing that a confused judge wrongly threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor.
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August 06, 2024
Feds Say Marathon Bomber Can't Oust Judge Amid Retrial Bid
Federal prosecutors said lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev misconstrued a local rule in seeking a different judge to consider his bid for a new sentencing trial.
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August 06, 2024
NC Software Execs Can't Unravel Payroll Tax Fraud Conviction
Two former software executives found guilty of failing to pay over $600,000 in employment taxes failed to clear a steep hurdle in trying to reverse their convictions, a North Carolina federal judge said in rejecting their bid for acquittal or a new trial.
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August 06, 2024
Rising Star: Williams & Connolly's Eden Schiffmann
Eden Schiffmann of Williams & Connolly LLP has successfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari several times, including most recently in 2023, when he helped bring before the justices the first contested criminal case against a foreign sovereign instrumentality in U.S. history. His work before the high court, and other high-profile matters involving a broad range of legal issues, have earned him a spot among the white collar law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 06, 2024
Ex-Army Contract Officer Gets 1 Year For GF's No-Show Job
A former U.S. Department of Defense contracting officer has been sentenced to a year in prison for getting his girlfriend a high-paying, no-show job at a defense contractor, then taking multiple trips to Disney World and other vacation spots with her on taxpayers' dime.
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August 06, 2024
Judge Says Suit Over NJ Cops' Pot Use Belongs In State Court
A New Jersey federal judge has decided against getting involved in a dispute between Jersey City and police officers it terminated after they tested positive for marijuana use, ruling that any conflict between federal gun control law and the state's cannabis legalization statute should be dealt with on the state level first.
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August 05, 2024
Epstein's Advisers Must Face Victims' Proposed Class Action
A New York federal judge on Monday refused to throw out a putative class action against associates of Jeffrey Epstein, yet also held that one of the victims couldn't pursue her claims in a 2021 liability release that is "about as broad and categorical as it gets."
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August 05, 2024
Ex-Trump Atty Ellis To Cooperate In Ariz. Fake Electors Case
Jenna Ellis, former legal adviser to Donald Trump, has agreed to cooperate with Arizona prosecutors' case alleging allies of the former president made efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, the Arizona Attorney General's Office announced Monday.
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August 05, 2024
Coinbase Broke Campaign Finance Laws, Crypto Critics Say
Crypto exchange Coinbase violated campaign finance laws when it donated $25.5 million to political action committees while negotiating a federal contract, prominent crypto critics told a federal election watchdog — a claim the firm's legal chief has staunchly denied.
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August 05, 2024
Justices Reject Missouri's Bid To Block Trump's NY Gag Order
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an effort by Missouri's Republican attorney general to lift convicted former President Donald Trump's gag order on First Amendment grounds and delay sentencing in his New York criminal hush money case until after the general election.
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August 05, 2024
EBay Resists Calif. Damages In Mass. Stalking Case
Married Massachusetts bloggers who were stalked and terrorized by eBay Inc. employees shouldn't be able to seek punitive damages available under California law while having Massachusetts law otherwise govern liability for their myriad civil claims, the e-commerce giant is arguing.
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August 05, 2024
Ex-Virgin Islands Premier Gets 11 Years For Drug Conspiracy
A Florida federal judge on Monday sentenced the former premier of the British Virgin Islands to more than 11 years in prison after a jury convicted him of charges related to a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine from South America to the U.S. following a trial earlier this year.
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August 05, 2024
Petrobras Manipulating US Law For $2B, 5th Circ. Hints
A Fifth Circuit judge accused a Brazilian state-owned oil company subsidiary of "hiding behind the corporate structure," saying during oral arguments on Monday that subsidiary Petrobras America Inc. was seemingly manipulating American law for treble damages totaling nearly $2 billion stemming from allegations of bribery.
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August 05, 2024
Ex-Credit Union VP Sues Over Pot Compliance Firing
A former vice president of a Missouri credit union has hit the institution with a federal lawsuit claiming her former employer violated state whistleblower and federal money laundering laws after she refused to open accounts for her boss's friends in marijuana-related businesses despite pressure from the boss.
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August 05, 2024
Fla. Man Gets 44 Months For $5M MilliporeSigma Export Scam
A Florida federal judge sentenced a Taiwanese citizen who lives in the Sunshine State to three years and eight months in prison for his role in a $5 million scheme to defraud life sciences company MilliporeSigma and the U.S. government by illegally exporting MilliporeSigma products to China.
Expert Analysis
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Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial
Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Why Individual Officers Are BSA-AML Enforcement Targets
Banking compliance professionals should use recent enforcement actions against individual officers at both Sterling Bank and the New York State Employees Credit Union to assess whether they are equipped with the tools and authority necessary to avert deficient Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance, says Sam Finkelstein at Volkov Group.
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5 Issues To Consider When Liquidating Through An ABC
Assignments for the benefit of creditors continue to grow in popularity as a tool for an orderly wind-down, and companies should be considering a number of issues before effectuating the assignment, including in which state it should occur, obtaining tail coverage and preparing a board creditor mailing list, says Evelyn Meltzer at Troutman Pepper.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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How Harsher Penalties For AI Crimes May Work In Practice
With recent pronouncements from the U.S. Department of Justice that prosecutors may seek sentencing enhancements for crimes committed using artificial intelligence, defense counsel should understand how the sentencing guidelines and statutory factors will come into play, says Jennie VonCannon at Crowell & Moring.
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2nd Circ.'s Binance Locus Test Adds Risk For Blockchain Cos.
The Second Circuit’s recent use of the irrevocable liability test to rule a class action may proceed against decentralized crypto exchange Binance heightens the possibility that other blockchain-based businesses with domestic customers and digital infrastructure will find themselves subject to U.S. securities laws, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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NY Bond, Enforcement Options As Trump Judgment Looms
In light of former President Donald Trump's court filing this week indicating that he can't secure a bond for the New York attorney general's nearly $465 million judgment against him, Neil Pedersen of Pedersen & Sons Surety Bond Agency and Adam Pollock of Pollock Cohen explore New York state judgment enforcement options and the mechanics of securing and collateralizing an appellate bond.
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Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference
Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
Justices' Trump Ballot Ruling May Spark Constitutional Crisis
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that former President Donald Trump must be reinstated to Colorado’s primary ballot endorses an unnecessarily broad legal theory of disqualification from federal office, raising constitutional questions that will only become more urgent as the next presidential election nears, says Devon Ombres at the Center for American Progress.
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Investment Advisers Should Prep For Money Laundering Regs
Investment advisers should prepare for a Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed rule that would significantly expand anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism obligations by assessing illicit financing risks, and expect examiners to scrutinize unregistered advisers and those with certain foreign clients, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.
A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'
Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.
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CSA Case Could Shift Intrastate Commercial Cannabis
In Canna Provisions v. Merrick Garland, cannabis companies argue that the Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to intrastate commercial cannabis activity; the Massachusetts federal court's eventual decision will be important to the cannabis industry for several reasons, including that the threat of federal enforcement would disappear overnight, says Hilary Bricken at Husch Blackwell.