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White Collar
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July 12, 2024
Menendez Bribery Case Goes To Jury
A Manhattan jury began deliberating Friday over bribery and other charges against Sen. Robert Menendez and two New Jersey businessmen after hearing hours of instructions in the 18-count case and eating their final lunch with five alternates.
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July 12, 2024
Guo Trial Juror Booted For Googling Fugitive Co-Defendant
The jury in Chinese dissident Miles Guo's $1 billion fraud and racketeering case was forced to restart its verdict deliberations on Friday after a juror was cut loose for Google-searching Guo's fugitive financial adviser and co-defendant William Je.
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July 12, 2024
Giuliani's Ch. 11 Tossed Over Lack Of Financial Candor
Rudolph W. Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and legal adviser to Donald Trump, had his Chapter 11 case dismissed Friday by a New York bankruptcy judge, who found that Giuliani's missing financial disclosure made ending the proceedings the best option for creditors.
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July 12, 2024
Ex-Slync CEO Gets 20 Years After Wire Fraud Conviction
The founder of shuttered supply chain management software company Slync has received a 20-year prison sentence involving a pair of partially concurrent sentences after a Texas jury in January handed down convictions on wire fraud and other claims over prosecutors' allegations that he drained $25 million out of his company's bank accounts.
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July 12, 2024
Ga. Jury Convicts Men For Ready-Mix Concrete Conspiracy
A Georgia federal jury convicted two men for their roles in a years-long scheme to fix prices and rig bids for tens of millions of dollars of ready-mix concrete in the greater Savannah area.
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July 12, 2024
Feds Say Fake Gunshot Wounds Part Of $1M Fraud Scheme
Five Massachusetts residents and one New Yorker defrauded insurance companies out of more than $1 million by submitting reimbursement claims for bogus overseas medical expenses, including gunshot wounds, stabbings and car accidents, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.
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July 12, 2024
Package Plea Deals Need More Scrutiny, Mich. Justices Say
The Michigan Supreme Court said Friday that package plea bargains deserve more analysis due to the potential for co-defendants to pressure each other into taking a deal, with two justices sharply dissenting and cautioning the decision would increase trial court workloads and discourage prosecutors from offering deals.
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July 12, 2024
Midyear Report: Taking Stock Of Sports Betting Enforcement
The first six months of 2024 saw no shortage of action in the enforcement of sports betting rules, highlighted by a bombshell fraud case ensnaring baseball's biggest star and a messy betting scandal that saw a fringe NBA rotation player banned from the game for life.
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July 12, 2024
Feds Seek 2 Years For Mass. Atty In Campaign Finance Scam
Boston federal prosecutors want a former BigLaw attorney to serve two years in prison for his conviction for a raft of campaign finance violations tied to his 2018 run for an open congressional seat in Massachusetts.
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July 12, 2024
Ex-DOJ Atty Clark Can't Move Ethics Case To Federal Court
A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday threw out a bid from former Trump administration lawyer Jeffrey Clark to transfer his attorney discipline case to federal court, saying the embattled attorney attempted to remove the ethics charges too late.
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July 12, 2024
Ex-Ga. Insurance Chief Gets 3½ Years For Kickback Scheme
John Oxendine, the former four-term Georgia insurance commissioner who pled guilty this year to working with a doctor to run a multimillion-dollar medical testing kickback scheme, was hit with a 3½-year prison sentence by a Georgia federal judge Friday.
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July 12, 2024
Former City Treasurer Gets 30 Months In $1M Embezzlement
A former city treasurer in Alaska was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after having admitted to tax evasion and fraud in connection with a $1 million embezzlement scheme, according to Alaska federal court documents.
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July 12, 2024
Ex-Magellan Execs Waive Conflicts Over Past Shared Counsel
Two former Magellan Diagnostics executives charged with conspiring to hide defects in the company's lead testing devices agreed on Friday to waive any potential conflict created by their prior joint representation by a Donnelly Conroy & Gelhaar LLP attorney.
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July 12, 2024
'Willful Withholding' Of Evidence Dooms Baldwin 'Rust' Case
Alec Baldwin wept and hugged his attorneys Friday after a New Mexico state judge threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against the actor in the "Rust" shooting case, finding that prosecutors willfully withheld key ammunition evidence from the defense.
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July 12, 2024
CFTC, DOJ Convene 'Pig Butchering' Working Group
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a U.S. Department of Justice cryptocurrency enforcement team have convened a working group focused on crypto fraud scams known as "pig butchering" schemes, joining forces with officials from more than 15 federal agencies.
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July 12, 2024
Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report
State and federal courts have handed down rulings so far this year that limited the reach of a federal bribery law commonly used to prosecute Illinois corruption, laid out a framework to challenge so-called mootness fees and clarified the scope of Illinois defamation and antitrust law. Here's a look at some of the biggest Illinois decisions in the first half of 2024.
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July 11, 2024
Trump Says Immunity Ruling Means Conviction Must Be Axed
Donald Trump has officially lodged his request for his conviction to be vacated in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, arguing that prosecutors' evidence in the hush money case rests on official acts he took as president, according to a redacted motion made public Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Whispers, Curses As Menendez Trial Inches Toward Jury
Federal corruption prosecutors wound down their bribery case against Sen. Robert Menendez Thursday with a mixture of dramatic into-the-mic whispering and reliance on the adjective "damn" as they argued that nothing in the tale would make sense without the alchemizing element of crime.
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July 11, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Disbarred Atty's Prison Term For Fraud Plea
A disbarred California attorney can't reverse a Manhattan federal court's 5½-year prison sentence and $5.5 million restitution order that followed his guilty plea to wire fraud for a real estate and venture fraud scheme, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Colo. Panel Rejects 3rd Party Shields To Anti-Influencing Law
A Colorado law criminalizing attempts to influence public servants doesn't require an offender to personally influence the official "by means of deceit," a state appellate panel ruled Thursday, holding for the first time that a person can be liable for engaging in a plan of deception with a third party.
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July 11, 2024
Biden Taps Warren Protege, Ex-CFPB Atty For CFTC Seat
President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated a senior Office of Management and Budget official and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to replace one of two current CFTC members who themselves have been nominated for other offices.
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July 11, 2024
Ozy Media CEO Urges Jury To Reject 'Shady' Fraud Case
Counsel for Carlos Watson on Thursday told a Brooklyn federal jury not to trust prosecutors' "shady" claims that the Ozy Media founder and CEO defrauded lenders and investors by falsely inflating the news and entertainment startup's bottom line.
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July 11, 2024
Texas AG Claims He's About To Be Impeached Again
In a social media post about an upcoming Texas House committee meeting, Attorney General Ken Paxton said "weak-kneed" establishment Republicans and Democrats are conspiring on a second impeachment effort to try to remove him from office — a claim the committee chair called "farfetched fantasy."
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July 11, 2024
All Grand Jury Witnesses Get Civil Immunity, Colo. Panel Says
A Colorado state appeals court held for the first time Thursday that all types of grand jury witnesses have absolute immunity for their testimony, though they don't have sweeping protection for statements made before the proceedings start.
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July 11, 2024
Pa. Man Admits To Dick's Sporting Goods Insider Trading
A Pennsylvania man who netted nearly $825,000 in profits from Dick's Sporting Goods securities has pled guilty to insider trading using tips he obtained from a company employee, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Expert Analysis
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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NY Public Campaign Funding May Attract Scrutiny From Feds
The upcoming elections across New York this year will be the first under the state’s public campaign finance program — which may broaden federal prosecutors' purview to target state election fraud and corruption, says Jarrod Schaeffer at Abell Eskew.
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Perspectives
Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.
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12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews
Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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Lessons In High-Profile Jury Selection Amid NY Trump Trial
Richard Gabriel and Michelle Rey LaRocca at Decision Analysis consider how media exposure can affect a prospective juror in a high-profile case, the misunderstood nature of bias, and recommendations for jury selection in these unique situations as the Trump hush money trial continues in New York.
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Proposed Cannabis Reschedule Sidesteps State Law Effects
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent proposal to move cannabis to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act provides certain benefits, but its failure to address how the rescheduling would interact with existing state cannabis laws disappointed industry participants hoping for clarity on this crucial question, says Ian Stewart at Wilson Elser.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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FEPA Cases Are Natural Fit For DOJ's Fraud Section
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that its Fraud Section would have exclusive jurisdiction over the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act — a new law that criminalizes “demand side” foreign bribery — makes sense, given its experience navigating the political and diplomatic sensitivities of related statutes, say James Koukios and Rachel Davidson Raycraft at MoFo.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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2 Oil Trader FCPA Pleas Highlight Fine-Reduction Factors
Recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements with Gunvor and Trafigura — the latest actions in a yearslong sweep of the commodities trading industry — reveal useful data points related to U.S. Department of Justice policies on cooperation credit and past misconduct, say Michael DeBernardis and Laura Perkins at Hughes Hubbard.
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How To Use Exhibits Strategically Throughout Your Case
Exhibits, and documents in particular, are the lifeblood of legal advocacy, so attorneys must understand how to wield them effectively throughout different stages of a case to help build strategy, elevate witness preparation and effectively persuade the fact-finders, say Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie and Colorado prosecutor Adam Kendall.
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Crypto Mixer Laundering Case Provides Evidentiary Road Map
A Washington, D.C., federal court’s recent decision to allow expert testimony on blockchain analysis software in a bitcoin mixer money laundering case — which ultimately ended in conviction — establishes a precedent for the admissibility of similar software-derived evidence, say Peter Hardy and Kelly Lenahan-Pfahlert at Ballard Spahr.