White Collar

  • December 09, 2024

    Cops Can Search Car Over Raw Cannabis Odor, Ill. Justices Say

    Illinois police can establish probable cause to search a vehicle based on the smell of raw cannabis alone, the state's highest court has ruled, saying that despite cannabis's legal status in the state, motorists face "stringent" rules when it comes to transporting it in cars.

  • December 09, 2024

    MIT Grads Say $25M Crypto Fraud Charges Not Rooted In Law

    The two Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated brothers accused of a $25 million crypto heist have told a New York federal judge that the indictment against them is "far removed from the heartland of wire fraud" since their novel trades can't be considered misrepresentations and that they had no notice their activity would be considered unlawful.

  • December 09, 2024

    RealPage Says DOJ's Ended Multifamily Rental Criminal Probe

    RealPage said the U.S. Department of Justice had ended a criminal probe into the multifamily rental housing industry's pricing practices, adding that the algorithmic pricing company was never identified as an investigation target.

  • December 09, 2024

    What's Next After Boeing 737 Max Deal Snags On DEI Clause

    A Texas federal judge's recent rejection of Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice underscores the increasing vulnerability of corporate and government diversity, equity and inclusion policies, experts say, spelling fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan and the legal saga over its 737 Max jets.

  • December 09, 2024

    'Broke, Half-Blind, Incontinent' Girardi Tries To Avoid Prison

    As prosecutors seek a 14-year prison sentence for Tom Girardi, a disbarred lawyer convicted of embezzling millions of dollars from his clients, his defense team has urged a Los Angeles federal judge to spare Girardi from prison because the once-successful lawyer "no longer exists."

  • December 09, 2024

    Avenatti Can't Push Resentencing To June In Client Theft Case

    A California federal judge plans to resentence Michael Avenatti within the next few months rather than June as Avenatti requested, following the Ninth Circuit's decision vacating Avenatti's original 14-year prison term for client theft, remarking Monday he didn't think a hearing was necessary to reevaluate loss calculations and attorney fees. 

  • December 09, 2024

    Chicago Pol's Lies Enough To Keep Conviction, Feds Say

    The government urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to disturb a former Chicago alderman's conviction for lying about money he'd borrowed from a since-shuttered bank, arguing his knowing understatements were enough to illegally mislead federal investigators.

  • December 09, 2024

    Pressure Growing For Biden To Pardon Native Activist

    As President Joe Biden nears the end of his term, calls to pardon a Native American activist serving a life sentence in the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents are again ramping up, with the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs asking Biden to "right a historic wrong."

  • December 09, 2024

    Ill. Congresswoman Denies Undue Influence From Madigan

    U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski was called to the witness stand Monday in the racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, where she testified that while she received multiple job recommendations from Madigan as a former senior aide to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, those candidates were only hired if they were qualified.

  • December 09, 2024

    Diddy Drama Pits Jay-Z, Quinn Emanuel Against Texas PI Firm

    Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter on Monday denied raping a 13-year-old alongside indicted hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and identified himself as the purported victim of extortion by Texas personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee, days after Buzbee sued Jay-Z's law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, for harassment in the escalating fight.

  • December 09, 2024

    Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch Crack Door For 2nd Amendment Fight

    Three U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled their willingness to delve into an appeal from a Hawaii man who argues that he is being unconstitutionally prosecuted for owning a handgun without a license, though they agreed with the rest of the court that they don't currently have jurisdiction to hear it.

  • December 09, 2024

    Former Law School IT Director Admits To Thefts

    A former IT director for New England School of Law in Boston pled guilty Monday to using the school's Amazon account to purchase more than $80,000 worth of musical equipment and Apple products, state prosecutors announced.

  • December 09, 2024

    Feds Seek 2-Year Sentence In Landmark Crypto Tax Case

    The first person ever criminally charged for failing to report gains from the sale of cryptocurrency by filing false returns should be sentenced to more than two years in prison after he admitted underreporting $4 million in bitcoin proceeds, prosecutors told a Texas federal court.

  • December 09, 2024

    Nadine Menendez Trial Date Set After Jan. 6 Delay Bid Nixed

    The trial of Nadine Menendez on corruption charges is set to start in January, a Manhattan federal judge said Monday, after hearing that a potential defense scheduling conflict over a U.S. Capitol insurrection-related case will likely "evaporate" when Donald Trump takes office.

  • December 09, 2024

    Anti-China Bias Tainted ADI Trade Secrets Case, 1st Circ. Told

    A former Analog Devices Inc. microchip engineer convicted of pilfering valuable design schematics to launch a competing business has told the First Circuit the government singled him out for prosecution due to his Chinese ethnicity and investigators' hopes he would turn out to be a foreign spy.

  • December 09, 2024

    Supreme Court Won't Review Ex-HUD Official's Conviction

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case of a former staffer in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General who was convicted of failing to disclose a loan from a friend who was later hired as a government subcontractor.

  • December 09, 2024

    Menendez Verdict Wasn't Tainted By Evidence Error, Feds Say

    Prosecutors told a Manhattan federal judge that evidence that was mistakenly loaded onto a laptop given to the jury that convicted former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., of bribery charges most likely wasn't seen by the jurors and didn't impact their verdict in a way that would merit a new trial.

  • December 09, 2024

    NC Hemp Store Owners Say Raids Targeted Their Race

    North Carolina sheriff's deputies allegedly "ransacked" and robbed two hemp stores and harassed their Middle Eastern owners in an effort to run them out of their community despite the businesses being legal, according to a new complaint filed in federal court.

  • December 09, 2024

    NYC Council Sues Mayor For Not Enforcing Jail Abuse Ban

    The New York City Council sued Mayor Eric Adams on Monday for failing to end the use of solitary confinement in city jails after the lawmaking body passed a bill banning the practice earlier this year, arguing that his "emergency" order violated the separation of powers.

  • December 07, 2024

    Up Next: Environmental Reviews, Wire Fraud & TM Awards

    The U.S. Supreme Court will hear its final set of oral arguments for the 2024 calendar year starting Monday, including disputes over the proper scope of federal environmental reviews and whether corporate affiliates can be ordered to pay disgorgement awards in trademark infringement disputes.

  • December 06, 2024

    SEC Says Market Forecaster Ran Biotech Pump-And-Dump

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued a subscription-based investment advice company and its owner, accusing them of making nearly $1.4 million in a pump-and-dump scheme involving a purported drugmaker.

  • December 06, 2024

    Allianz Exec Avoids Prison For $7B Investor Fraud

    A New York federal judge on Friday declined to sentence a former portfolio manager for Allianz SE's U.S. unit to any time in prison for lying to investors about the riskiness of a group of private investment funds that lost over $7 billion when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

  • December 06, 2024

    Diddy's Companies Tossed From One Of His Rape Suits

    A New York federal judge Thursday dismissed two of Sean "Diddy" Combs' companies from a lawsuit accusing the hip-hop mogul and two other men of trafficking and raping a 17-year-old in 2003, saying a 2022 amendment to a local law expanding liability for gender-motivated violence didn't apply retroactively.

  • December 06, 2024

    Would-Be Mike Bloomberg Killer Gets 22 Years For Kidnap

    A Colorado man will spend 22 years in federal prison for kidnapping a housekeeper at Michael Bloomberg's Colorado ranch at gunpoint after entering the property intending to kill the businessman and three-term New York City mayor, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • December 06, 2024

    Chinese Magnet Co. CEO Latest Charged In DOD Supply Scam

    Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed the latest indictment in an allegedly sprawling conspiracy involving Quadrant Magnetics LLC and its employees, charging Quadrant's CEO with conspiring to export sensitive U.S. defense data to China while illegally selling U.S. defense companies Chinese-made Quadrant magnets.

Expert Analysis

  • Perspectives

    DC Circ. Seizure Ruling Deepens 4th Amendment Circuit Split

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    The D.C. Circuit’s recent Asinor v. District of Columbia decision, holding that the government’s continued possession of seized property must be reasonable, furthers a split among circuit courts and portends how the text, history and tradition method might influence Fourth Amendment cases, say Ty Howard and Wayne Beckermann at Bradley Arant.

  • Integrating ESG Into Risk Management Programs

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    Amid increasing regulations and reporting requirements for corporate sustainability in the European Union and the U.S., companies might consider how to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into more formalized risk management, say directors at Alvarez & Marsal.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Vertex Suit Highlights Issues For Pharma Fertility Support

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    Vertex Pharmaceuticals' recent lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretation of the Anti-Kickback Statute is influenced by a number of reproductive rights and health equity issues that the Office of Inspector General should address more concretely, including in vitro fertilization and fertility preservation programs, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health Law.

  • 5 Lessons From Consulting Firm's Successful DOJ Disclosure

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    The Boston Consulting Group recently received a rare declination of prosecution from the U.S. Department of Justice after self-disclosing a foreign bribery scheme, and the firm’s series of savvy steps after discovering the misconduct provides useful data points for white collar defense attorneys, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • 5 Credibility Lessons Trial Attys Can Learn From Harris' Run

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    In launching a late-stage campaign for president, Vice President Kamala Harris must seize upon fresh attention from voters to establish, or reestablish, credibility — a challenge that parallels and provides takeaways for trial attorneys, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • 7 Takeaways For Investment Advisers From FinCEN AML Rule

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    With a new FinCEN rule that will require covered investment advisers to implement anti-money laundering programs and comply with extra recordkeeping requirements by 2026, companies should begin planning necessary updates to their policies and procedures by focusing on seven of the rule’s key requirements, identified by attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • A Look At UK, EU And US Cartel Enforcement Trends

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    The European Union, U.K. and U.S. competition agencies' recently issued joint statement on competition risks in generative artificial intelligence demonstrates increased cross-border collaboration on cartel investigations, meaning companies facing investigations in one jurisdiction should anticipate related investigations in other jurisdictions, say lawyers at Latham & Watkins.

  • Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

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    Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • How Companies Are Approaching Insider Trading Policies

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    An analysis of insider trading policies recently disclosed by 49 S&P 500 companies under a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule reveals that while specific provisions vary from company to company, certain common themes are emerging, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • 5 Ways To Confront Courtroom Technology Challenges

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    Recent cybersecurity incidents highlight the vulnerabilities of our reliance on digital infrastructure, meaning attorneys must be prepared to navigate technological obstacles inside the courtroom, including those related to data security, presentation hardware, video playback and more, says Adam Bloomberg at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations

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    A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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