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White Collar
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March 17, 2025
Ex-Opioid Co. CEO Wants Out Of Law Firm's Billing Suit
A convicted former CEO of an opioid distributor is urging a New York federal judge to dismiss his criminal defense firm's suit against him over an alleged unpaid $150,000 expert witness tab, saying the suit fails because of "the clear and unambiguous language of the retainer agreements."
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March 17, 2025
DOJ Dismisses BitClout Crypto Fraud Case, Court Filings Say
Federal prosecutors have dropped their fraud case against the founder of crypto project BitClout accused of ripping off a venture capital firm, while the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is engaged in talks about a possible end to its own civil action against him, court documents show.
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March 17, 2025
Judge Ends Ex-Ga. Tech Prof's Suit Over Finance Probe
Two Georgia Tech auditors have escaped a malicious prosecution suit from a former professor over allegedly suspicious financial dealings by his startup that they flagged, as a Georgia federal judge said the professor "failed to provide evidence" his rights were violated.
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March 17, 2025
Ex-Avenatti Clients Resolve Fight Over Seized Honda Jet
Two of Michael Avenatti's former clients have settled their dispute over ownership interest and an insurance policy covering a $4.4 million Honda jet that the disgraced attorney allegedly purchased with stolen client funds, according to a notice filed in California federal court.
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March 17, 2025
Doctor Pays $700K To Settle Feds' Medicare Fraud Suit
A doctor and his Ringgold, Georgia, practice have agreed to pay $700,000 to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted false claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary chelation therapy.
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March 17, 2025
NYC To Pay $140M To End Taxi Drivers' Unfair Suspension Suit
New York City has agreed to pay $140 million to settle a nearly two-decade-old federal class action alleging its practice of summarily suspending licenses for taxi drivers who've been arrested but not yet convicted deprives them of due process by denying them meaningful opportunities to challenge their suspensions.
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March 17, 2025
9th Circ. Says Capital One Cyberattacker Sentence Too Light
A split Ninth Circuit panel Monday said a lower court judge was too lenient in sentencing a former Amazon.com Inc. coder to probation for orchestrating one of the nation's latest data breach crimes, finding that the district court judge erred in finding her actions were not "malicious."
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March 17, 2025
Florida Businessman Pleads Guilty To Hiding $20M From IRS
A Florida businessman faces up to five years in prison after he pled guilty Monday to hiding $20 million in Swiss bank accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.
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March 17, 2025
Execs Stole $5.4M In Fla. Trucking Co. Investments, SEC Says
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has brought a Florida federal lawsuit against three principal members of a trucking company over securities violations, alleging that they raised at least $5.4 million after falsely promising investors significant profits but returned only a fraction of the money.
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March 17, 2025
Ex-Flooring Co. Exec Gets 7½ Years For $1.8M Fraud Scheme
Flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries Inc.'s former head of information technology has been hit with a 7½-year prison sentence after admitting to masterminding a $1.8 million scheme to rip off the company, taking a guilty plea just days before a trial where his co-conspirators were set to testify against him.
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March 17, 2025
Okla. Gov. Looks To Dismiss Tribe's Jurisdiction Dispute
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is asking a federal court to dismiss a paused jurisdiction dispute between the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the city of Tulsa, or be allowed to intervene, arguing that the municipality has signaled a willingness to abandon the defense of the state's interests.
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March 17, 2025
'Jailhouse Lawyer' Admits Firing Off Error-Filled Filings
A convicted fraudster accused of duping people into paying him for legal work told a Manhattan federal jury on Monday that he "wanted to help people," before a prosecutor showed evidence that he "cut and pasted" often-sloppy court papers in rapid-fire fashion.
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March 17, 2025
SEC Says Ex-CFO Cooked Pot Co. Acreage's Books
The former chief financial officer of cannabis company Acreage faces U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that he covered up the company's attempt to inflate its 2019 cash balance with a so-called round-trip transaction involving an affiliate.
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March 17, 2025
May Trial Set For Ex-Conn. Official's New Corruption Charges
A Connecticut federal judge said Monday that former Constitution State budget official Konstantinos Diamantis and ex-lawmaker Christopher Ziogas will go to trial on May 7 for claims they respectively took and paid bribes to stop a state audit of Ziogas' fiancée, who has admitted to healthcare fraud.
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March 17, 2025
Ex-Haiti Mayor Hid Atrocities To Secure Green Card, Jury Told
The former mayor of a remote Haitian town led a rampage of violence against political opponents and then lied about the hand he played in the deaths and torture to get into the United States with a green card, a Justice Department lawyer told a Boston federal jury Monday.
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March 17, 2025
Georgia Justices Urged To Revive Trump Election Charges
Prosecutors argued that the Georgia Supreme Court should reinstate certain criminal charges against President Donald Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others alleging interference in the 2020 presidential election, saying lower courts wrongly dismissed the charges because of the indictment's purported lack of detail.
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March 17, 2025
Former DOJ, FCC Official Joins Morgan Lewis In DC
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP has grown its telecommunications, media and technology practice in Washington, D.C., with the addition of a former senior Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Department of Justice official, the firm announced on Monday.
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March 17, 2025
Houston Midwife Arrested In Texas' 1st Criminal Abortion Case
A Houston-area midwife has been arrested after an investigation by the Texas attorney general's office for allegedly providing illegal abortions, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday, the first such criminal charges brought since the state issued its near-total abortion ban.
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March 17, 2025
Ex-Seton Hall Law Worker Avoids Jail In Embezzlement Case
A former employee of Seton Hall University School of Law was sentenced Monday to two years of probation with one year of electronic monitoring for her guilty plea in an embezzlement scheme that defrauded the school of $1.3 million over 13 years.
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March 17, 2025
Pa. Judge Facing Fraud Charges Asks For Trial Delay
The York County, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas judge under indictment for fraud, witness tampering and obstruction of justice related to his allegedly misusing unemployment relief funds to pay his law firm's employees during the COVID-19 pandemic has asked a federal court to delay his trial until at least June in order to review discovery.
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March 14, 2025
Qatari Sheikh's Billions Invoked In $1M Scam, SEC Claims
A purported wealth management company and its managing member face U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud allegations over a pair of $1 million dollar schemes, including one involving an elaborate ruse invoking ties to the wealth of the royal family of Qatar.
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March 14, 2025
PE Fund Accuses Ex-CEO Of Stealing To Pay Divorce Atty
A former private equity CEO has been sued by a Denver-based fund in Colorado state court for allegedly using its money to pay his divorce lawyer and for other personal expenses, following a settlement earlier this year with federal securities regulators over claims he improperly charged two other funds.
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March 14, 2025
'Pig Butchering' Crypto Site Must Pay $2.5M, Judge Says
A purported crypto trading platform has been ordered to pay nearly $2.5 million after failing to respond to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims that it was at the heart of a so-called pig-butchering scheme — or a scam that sees victims fleeced by fictitious, chatty social media users.
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March 14, 2025
5th Circ. Affirms Energy Exec's Insider Trading Conviction
The Fifth Circuit upheld a Texas energy executive's conviction for insider trading on natural gas futures based on the constitutionality of federal laws and regulations that criminalize manipulative commodity deals.
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March 14, 2025
Par Funding Conspirator Gets 11 Years For Fraud, Atty Assault
A Pennsylvania federal judge has sentenced Par Funding principal James "Jimmy" LaForte to 11 years and four months in prison for helping his family run a $404 million racketeering conspiracy and violently assaulting Par Funding receivership's court-appointed counsel in a position prosecutors described as the loan company's "loyal attack dog."
Expert Analysis
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Making The Case For Rest In The Legal Profession
For too long, a culture of overwork has plagued the legal profession, but research shows that attorneys need rest to perform optimally and sustainably, so legal organizations and individuals must implement strategies that allow for restoration, says Marissa Alert at MDA Wellness, Carol Ross-Burnett at CRB Global, and Denise Robinson at The Still Center.
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1st Circ. IMessage Ruling Illustrates Wire Fraud Circuit Split
The First Circuit’s recent decision that text messages exchanged wholly within Massachusetts but transmitted by the internet count as interstate commerce spotlights a split in how circuits interpret intrastate actions under the federal wire fraud statute, perhaps prompting U.S. Supreme Court review, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy
This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
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UK Refusal Of US Extradition Request May Set New Standard
The recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling in El-Khouri v. U.S., denying a U.S. extradition request, overturns a long-held precedent and narrows how U.K. courts must decide such requests, potentially signaling a broader reevaluation of U.K. extradition law, say lawyers at Dechert and Kingsley Napley.
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Why A Rare SEC Dismissal May Not Reflect A New Approach
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's pending dismissal of its case against Silver Point is remarkable to the extent that it reflects a novel repudiation of a decision made during the prior commission, a deeper look suggests it may not represent a shift in policy approach, say attorneys at Weil.
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Deficiency Trends In National Futures Association Exams
A recent notice from the National Futures Association outlining the most common deficiencies uncovered during exams gives member firms an opportunity to review prior guidance, particularly regarding the hot topic of implementing procedures governing the use of outsourced service providers, say attorneys at Akin.
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A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
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A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues
Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.
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How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case
Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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Why NY May Want To Reconsider Its LLC Transparency Law
Against the backdrop of the myriad challenges to the federal Corporate Transparency Act, it may be prudent for New York to reconsider its adoption of the LLC Transparency Act, since it's unclear whether the Empire State's "baby-CTA" statute is still necessary or was passed prematurely, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB
Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.
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How Foreign Cos. Should Prep For New UK Fraud Law
As the U.K. prepares to hold companies criminally liable for failing to prevent fraudulent acts of their associates, U.S. and global companies should review their compliance measures against the broad language of this new offense, which could permit prosecution of acts committed entirely abroad, say attorneys at Latham & Watkins.
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What's Potentially In Store For CFTC Under New Leadership
Under the leadership of acting U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham, and with the nomination of former commissioner Brian Quintenz to serve as permanent chair, the commission is set to widely embrace digital assets and event contracts, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards
Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.
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2 Practical Ways For Banks To Battle Elder Financial Abuse
Federal regulators' recent statement raising awareness of elder financial exploitation provides a useful catalog of techniques that banks can employ to fight fraud, particularly encouraging older account holders to establish trusted contacts and sharing timely warnings about the latest scams with customers, say attorneys at Nutter.