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White Collar
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July 31, 2024
Ex-AUSA Joins Motley Rice Fraud Team From DiCello Levitt
Plaintiffs' firm Motley Rice LLC said Wednesday that it hired a former New York assistant U.S. attorney to support its efforts to protect whistleblowers who expose misconduct, fraud and deceptive trade practices.
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July 30, 2024
11th Circ. Upholds Geofence Warrant In Carjacking Case
The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday rejected a convicted carjacker's attempt to quash a geofence warrant that allowed law enforcement to obtain information from cellphones within a certain geographic area, finding that the man lacked standing to challenge a search that revealed no information from his own electronic device.
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July 30, 2024
FTX Users Say Sullivan & Cromwell Must Face Abetting Claims
FTX customers told a Florida federal judge on Tuesday that Sullivan & Cromwell LLP can't dismiss customer claims it aided and abetted the defunct cryptocurrency exchange's fraud as "speculative allegations" when the customers' complaint "paints a much more detailed and nefarious picture."
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July 30, 2024
Prosecutors Say Bribery Ruling Won't Disrupt Madigan Trial
Prosecutors accusing former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan of corruption said Monday night his case is unaffected by the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling limiting the reach of a bribery statute that once criminalized gratuities, saying the government's allegations do not rely on gratuities, so "this dog will not hunt."
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July 30, 2024
Young Thug's 3rd Judge Denies Mistrial For Bench Swaps
A Georgia judge who recently became the third presider in rapper Young Thug's sprawling racketeering trial ruled Tuesday there will be no mistrial on grounds of judge substitution, but said rulings on other mistrial motions are still to come.
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July 30, 2024
FTX Exec Gets Prison Report Date Delayed After Dog Attack
A New York federal judge on Tuesday allowed ex-FTX executive Ryan Salame to delay his surrender date to begin his prison term from August to October, as he was forced to undergo medical treatment and surgery after being mauled by a German shepherd while visiting a friend's house last month.
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July 30, 2024
Ex-Allied World Insurance Exec. Admits To $1.5M Fraud
A former Allied World Insurance Co. executive pleaded guilty Tuesday to running a scheme that tricked the company into paying nearly $1.5 million for phony construction work and collecting undisclosed kickbacks from its vendors.
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July 30, 2024
Ex-HFZ Capital Chief Can't Reduce Bail In $86M Fraud Case
A Manhattan judge on Tuesday denied, for now, a request by the former head of troubled real estate firm HFZ Capital Group to lower a hefty bail requirement so he can get out of Rikers Island while fighting $86 million theft and tax fraud charges.
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July 30, 2024
NJ Men Accused Of Running $6.7M Fuel Investment Scam
Two Middlesex County men ran a scheme using fake identities and "sham companies" to defraud investors out of about $6.7 million that they thought was going into fuel products businesses, according to an indictment announced Monday by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin.
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July 30, 2024
Calif. Broker-Dealer To Pay FINRA $1.5M For Excessive Trades
Broker-dealer Western International Securities Inc. has agreed to pay more than $1.5 million to settle allegations from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority that the firm failed to properly monitor potentially excessive trading in about 100 accounts, and it was hit with a separate cease-and-desist order from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday over Regulation Best Interest violations.
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July 30, 2024
Feds, SEC Say Creator Of Crypto Co. BitClout Misled Investors
Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced parallel actions Tuesday against the founder of crypto project BitClout for allegedly duping investors and spending millions of proceeds for his own benefit.
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July 30, 2024
Psychedelics And The Law: A Midyear Review
A groundbreaking effort to secure federal approval for a psychedelic medication hit an unexpected snag. Religious groups asserting the right to access controlled substances had mixed success in federal court. Physicians seeking to administer psilocybin to terminally ill patients will finally have their day in court. Here are the major developments in psychedelics law from the first half of 2024.
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July 30, 2024
Former Prosecutor 'Coming Back Home' To NJ Boutique
After prosecuting federal healthcare crimes in New Jersey, a former assistant U.S. attorney has returned to boutique firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP to guide clients as part of the firm's white collar criminal and regulatory defense and investigations practice with a focus on healthcare litigation and licensing, the firm announced Tuesday.
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July 30, 2024
Pot Cos. Can't Push RICO Claims Against Calif. City
A California federal judge has thrown out racketeering claims by six cannabis companies that accuse the city of Cudahy of illegally assessing fees, saying that because Congress listed cultivation and sale of cannabis under the definition of racketeering, they can't recover damages.
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July 30, 2024
Atty Smuggled Marijuana-Soaked Papers To Inmate, Feds Say
A Massachusetts solo practitioner has been charged with using her status as an attorney to try to smuggle papers soaked in synthetic cannabis to an inmate at a Rhode Island detention center, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
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July 30, 2024
Houston Energy CEO Ran $21M Stock Scheme, SEC Says
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued the head of a Houston energy company in Texas federal court, alleging he raised more than $21 million from over 300 investors nationwide through a fraudulent and unregistered offering of preferred stock in his fuel-blending company.
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July 30, 2024
What Mass. Attys Will Be Watching In The 2nd Half Of 2024
Two potentially sweeping Massachusetts high court rulings and a long-awaited employment bill lingering in the State House are among the issues Bay State attorneys say they are monitoring closely heading into the latter half of 2024.
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July 30, 2024
Financial Co. To Pay $20M To Resolve DOL Embezzlement Suit
A financial planner agreed to pay $20 million to 17 retirement plans it manages to resolve a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Labor accusing it of improperly shuffling money between accounts and embezzling at least $5 million in plan assets, a filing in Pennsylvania federal court said.
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July 29, 2024
NYC Prof And Purported Dissident A Chinese Spy, Jury Hears
A New York academic and author secretly acted as an agent of the Chinese government in the United States, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday, betraying pro-democracy activists by feeding information to China's intelligence service.
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July 29, 2024
Calif. High Court Says Co-Worker's Slur Can Be Harassment
The California Supreme Court on Monday revived a race bias suit brought by a longtime employee of the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, finding that her co-worker's one-time use of a racial slur may indeed have been so severe that it created a hostile work environment.
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July 29, 2024
Ky. Tower Sale Laundering Case Should Proceed, Judge Told
A Florida magistrate judge has recommended denying a bid by two Miami businessmen to toss litigation filed by the U.S. government looking to seize about $9.1 million from the sale of a Kentucky office tower over alleged ties to a Ukrainian money laundering scheme.
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July 29, 2024
Fraudster Faces Florida Condo Eviction Over Chain-Smoking
A Florida luxury condominium association has brought a state court lawsuit against an admitted real estate fraudster and seeks to have him removed as a tenant over his chain-smoking, saying he broke the terms of his lease but continues to reside in his condo unit.
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July 29, 2024
Amex Inks $3M Deal To Settle Girardi Bankruptcy Suit Claims
American Express reached a $3 million deal to settle claims brought by the Girardi Keese bankruptcy trustee accusing the credit giant's banking unit and another subsidiary of enabling $50.25 million in fraudulent transfers as part of the now-defunct law firm's scheme to defraud creditors.
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July 29, 2024
Ex-Vitol Oil Trader Can't Unwind Conviction After Bribery Trial
A New York federal judge refused Friday to acquit former Vitol Oil Group trader Javier Aguilar or grant him a new trial following his February conviction on charges that he bribed Ecuadorian and Mexican officials to win $500 million in business deals for the global energy and commodities company.
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July 29, 2024
Meadows Seeks High Court's Help In Ga. Case Removal Bid
Continuing his long-running efforts to drag his Georgia election interference prosecution into federal court, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to intervene and stop state prosecutors from declaring "open season on federal officials."
Expert Analysis
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What FTX Case Taught Us About Digital Asset Recoverability
FTX's Chapter 11 plan has drawn lots of attention, but the focus should be on the anticipated outcome for investors, which counters several myths about digital currencies, innovation and recoverability, says Kyla Curley at StoneTurn.
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'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed
A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Opinion
Post-Chevron, Good Riddance To The Sentencing Guidelines
The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine may signal the end of the U.S. sentencing guidelines, which is good news given that they have accomplished the opposite of Congress’ original intent to bring certainty, proportionality and uniformity to sentencing, say attorneys Mark Allenbaugh, Doug Passon and Alan Ellis.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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A Timeline Of Antisemitism Legislation And What It Means
What began as hearings in the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce has expanded to a House-wide effort to combat antisemitism and related issues, with wide-ranging implications for education, finance and nonprofit entities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms
The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.
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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition
To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.
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Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal
Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.
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Tricky Venue Issues Persist In Fortenberry Prosecution Redo
Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was recently indicted for a second time after the Ninth Circuit tossed his previous conviction for improper venue, but the case, now pending in the District of Columbia, continues to illustrate the complexities of proper venue in "false statement scheme" prosecutions, says Kevin Coleman at Covington.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.