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White Collar
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September 27, 2024
1st Circ. Drops Bribery, Reinstates Extortion In Casino Case
The First Circuit on Friday reversed both convictions and acquittals in a high-profile bribery and extortion case involving a Rhode Island architect and a Massachusetts tribal official who had been found guilty of a quid pro quo exchange of pricey gifts related to a valuable design contract on the tribe's $1 billion casino development.
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September 27, 2024
Binance Founder Zhao Released From Federal Custody
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was released from a California correctional facility Friday after he was sentenced to four months in prison for his failure to implement an effective anti-money laundering program at the global cryptocurrency exchange, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to Law360.
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September 27, 2024
Corporate Raider Accused Of Shirking $180M SEC Judgment
Corporate takeover specialist Paul A. Bilzerian, accused of ducking a more than $180 million judgment owed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for decades, was indicted alongside his longtime accountant and his cannabis company on Thursday, California federal prosecutors said Friday.
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September 27, 2024
New Orleans Inspector Indicted For Bribing Top City Official
A New Orleans resident and his home inspection company were indicted in Louisiana federal court Friday on charges that he operated a yearslong scheme of taking bribes to let unlicensed electricians work on hundreds of homes and bribing top city officials to look the other way.
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September 27, 2024
SEC Drops Case Against Marcum CPA After High Court Ruling
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission quietly dropped an in-house proceeding Friday against a Marcum LLP accountant whose case was called into question by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that curtailed the agency's use of its administrative courts.
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September 27, 2024
FCC Chief Quotes Taylor Swift In Tough Stance On Deepfakes
Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel vowed during a speech Friday to take a strong position on enforcing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act against AI-generated robocalls and noted the FCC is considering new AI election-related disclosure regulations, quoting pop singer Taylor Swift who said, "The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth."
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September 27, 2024
Constitution Permits Blocked Anti-Laundering Law, Panel Told
The U.S. government urged the Eleventh Circuit on Friday to reinstate the Corporate Transparency Act passed in 2021, arguing that the anti-money laundering law is within Congress' powers to regulate economic activity and necessary to have businesses report beneficial ownership to combat crimes like tax evasion and terrorist financing.
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September 27, 2024
UK Man Indicted On $4M 'Hack-To-Trade' Scheme
New Jersey federal prosecutors announced Friday that a U.K. man has been arrested and is awaiting extradition on charges of hacking into the email accounts of several corporate executives in order to steal nonpublic information that he used to turn a profit of almost $4 million.
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September 27, 2024
Mango Markets Crypto Cos. Ink $700K Deal Over SEC Claims
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that the business entities behind decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Mango Markets agreed to a nearly $700,000 settlement to resolve alleged registration violations, which the regulator brought after the marketplace was bilked of more than $100 million.
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September 27, 2024
Musk Skirts Sanctions In Missed Twitter Deposition, For Now
A California federal judge on Friday declined to sanction Elon Musk, for now, after he skipped a deposition over his $44 billion Twitter takeover, allowing the parties to resolve the issue and advising them to wait to see if he appears for the deposition that's been rescheduled for this coming Friday.
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September 27, 2024
Crash Victim's Estate Awarded $10M From No-Show Driver
A Michigan state judge awarded the estate of a Michigan woman a $10 million default judgment Friday in its wrongful death suit against the alleged drunken driver who crashed into her head-on while going the wrong way down a one-way street.
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September 27, 2024
Feds Subpoena NYC Mayor's Top Aide, DA Seizes Phone
A senior aide and confidante of New York City Mayor Eric Adams had her phone and records seized by state prosecutors and was separately subpoenaed by federal agents on Friday, the same day Adams was arraigned on federal corruption charges.
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September 27, 2024
Feds Say Crypto 'Godfather' Bribed Cops, Dodged Taxes
California federal prosecutors have accused a cryptocurrency startup founder nicknamed "The Godfather" of extortion, robbery and failing to pay taxes on fraudulent income that he allegedly used for personal luxuries including a Bel Air mansion rental and cosmetic surgery to make his legs longer.
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September 27, 2024
Head Of 'High-End Brothel' Network In Mass., Va. Pleads Guilty
A Cambridge, Massachusetts, woman admitted Friday to running a sophisticated network of brothels in greater Boston and northern Virginia that prosecutors have said was patronized by lawyers, politicians, corporate officials and others.
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September 27, 2024
'Varsity Blues' Suit Flips The Script On 'Victim' USC
The University of Southern California could be forced to reveal unseemly details of its admissions process if it can't beat or settle a $75 million suit filed by a private equity executive who blames the school for his being ensnared in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal, experts told Law360.
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September 27, 2024
IRS Plans Transition Rules In Basis-Shifting Regs, Atty Says
The IRS plans to include transition rules in forthcoming proposed regulations that aim to clamp down on abusive tax avoidance practices through complex partnership transactions known as basis shifting, an agency attorney said Friday.
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September 27, 2024
Off The Bench: College Sports Dominates Legal Landscape
In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA and the athletes in the big name, image and likeness settlement try to redo the terms to satisfy the overseeing judge, Reggie Bush says his image has been exploited by his alma mater and the NCAA for years, and the Pac-12 claims that it's being strong-armed by a rival conference for coaxing away its teams.
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September 27, 2024
Ex-Mass. State Sen. Says Conviction By All-White Jury Unfair
A former Massachusetts state senator has said his conviction on pandemic unemployment aid and tax fraud charges should be thrown out in part because the jury was all white.
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September 27, 2024
Honigman Not Conflicted Out Of $40M Detroit Embezzling Suit
A Michigan state judge said Friday that the law firm that investigated suspected fraud at the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy can also represent the organization in its civil suit against its former chief financial officer, who is accused of embezzling $40 million.
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September 27, 2024
Ex-Partners Blast Lin Wood's Constitutional Fight Over Fees
Former law partners of retired Georgia attorney L. Lin Wood said Wood can't escape being on the hook for their attorney fees after he was hit with a $3.75 million defamation verdict, saying that Wood's argument calling the fees unconstitutional flies in the face of 150 years of the state's case law.
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September 27, 2024
NJ Atty Reprimanded For Keeping Client In Dark On Fee Hike
The New Jersey Supreme Court has reprimanded a criminal defense attorney for failing to provide a client with a retainer or any bills for over four years until notifying the client that, due to an unannounced rate change, the client owed over $170,000.
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September 27, 2024
Cooley Accused Of Hiding Fraud From Startup Investors
A former board member of a dry-cleaning delivery startup has alleged in New Jersey federal court that Cooley LLP and its attorneys deliberately kept investors in the dark about fraud claims against the startup's chief executive.
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September 27, 2024
Feds Charge 3 Iranians In Trump Campaign Hack
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday unsealed an indictment accusing three Iranian citizens of hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign as part of a "wide-ranging" cyber scheme that sought to sow distrust in U.S. elections.
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September 27, 2024
NY Man Convicted In Father-Son Crypto Caper
A Long Island man was convicted by a Manhattan federal jury of conspiring with his son to scam investors out of millions by claiming to invest their cryptocurrency and instead pocketing the funds.
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September 27, 2024
TelexFree Victims Say Payment Processor Lost Key Emails
Victims of the multibillion-dollar TelexFree Ponzi scheme said a payment processor's loss of critical emails and other files related to the ploy amounts to a "blatant coverup" to hide evidence that would have otherwise bolstered their case against the company.
Expert Analysis
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Until Congress Acts, EDNY 'Insider Betting' Case Is Premature
The Eastern District of New York’s novel wire fraud conspiracy indictment in U.S. v. Pham may have prematurely heralded a new era in federal gambling enforcement, but in the absence of an “insider betting” statute, sportsbooks — not prosecutors — should be responsible for enforcing their terms of use, says attorney Jonathan Savella.
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How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'
Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.
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When The Supreme Court Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade
Instead of grousing about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning long-standing precedents, attorneys should look to history for examples of how enterprising legal minds molded difficult decisions to their advantage, and figure out how to work with the cards they’ve been dealt, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Philly Project Case Renews Ongoing Fraud Theory Tug-Of-War
In its upcoming term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kousisis v. U.S., a case involving wire fraud convictions related to Philadelphia bridge repair projects, and may once again further rein in prosecutorial attempts to expand theories of fraud beyond core traditional property rights, say Jonathan Halpern and Kyra Rosenzweig at Holland & Knight.
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Opinion
Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process
Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.
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Playing The Odds: Tackling Athlete Gambling Investigations
The rapid rise of sports gambling presents new and unique challenges, so it's important for attorneys to be able to navigate a dynamic web of complex, high-stakes relationships between athletes, the betting public, athletic organizations, sportsbooks and law enforcement — all while under intense public scrutiny, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Carbon Offset Case A Win For CFTC Enviro Fraud Task Force
An Illinois federal court's decision in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Ikkurty — earning the CFTC a sizeable monetary award that will likely incentivize similar enforcement pursuit — shows the impact of the commission's Environmental Fraud Task Force, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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Whistleblowers Must Note 5 Key Differences Of DOJ Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently unveiled whistleblower awards program diverges in key ways from similar programs at other agencies, and individuals must weigh these differences and look first to programs with stronger, proven protections before blowing the whistle, say Stephen Kohn and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.
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What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires
Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.
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Open Questions 3 Years After 2nd Circ.'s Fugitive Ruling
The Second Circuit’s 2021 decision in U.S. v. Bescond, holding that a French resident indicted abroad did not meet the legal definition of a fugitive, deepened a circuit split on the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, and courts continue to grapple with the doctrine’s reach and applicability, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support
A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.
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How DOJ May Change FARA Exemption In Forthcoming Rule
Any day now, the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to issue proposed revisions to the Foreign Agents Registration Act regulations, and signs suggest that it will likely narrow one of FARA's broadest exemptions, which may compound public confusion about the law's requirements, says Murad Hussain at Arnold & Porter.
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Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where
During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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3 Presidential Privilege Questions After Trump Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Trump v. U.S., carving out a new evidentiary privilege for presidents, leaves unanswered several key questions concerning whether this new privilege is waivable or subject to various exceptions, says Jeremy Bates at Frankfurt Kurnit.
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Crypto Gatekeepers May Be The Next Front Of Enforcement
Lawyers and other professionals who advise cryptocurrency companies should beware regulators' increasing focus on gatekeeper accountability, and should take several measures to fulfill their ethical and legal obligations, including implementing a robust vetting mechanism when representing crypto clients, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Xinchen Li at Selendy Gay.