White Collar

  • December 10, 2024

    Advent Says Chancery Rulings End Funeral Co. Suit

    Private equity firm Advent International told a Boston federal judge that a heated fraud lawsuit tied to its sale of a Mexican funeral business must be dismissed due to rulings from a Delaware judge upholding agreements it entered with the buyer limiting claims related to the transaction.

  • December 10, 2024

    Soft Landing For Pilot As Billionaire's Insider Case Wraps

    A pilot who admitted to dodging taxes on $500,000 in income after he was accused of taking stock tips from Joe Lewis, his billionaire boss, avoided prison on Tuesday at a sentencing that closed a high-profile insider trading prosecution.

  • December 09, 2024

    Pro Se Giuliani Says 4 Attys Turned Him Down, Blames Judge

    Rudy Giuliani on Monday secured extra time to fight Georgia poll workers' request that he be held in civil contempt, time Giuliani argued he needed because he's struggling to find an attorney to represent him in the case thanks to a D.C. federal judge being "biased about Trump-related matters."

  • December 09, 2024

    High Court Again Weighs Reach Of Federal Fraud Statutes

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday grappled with the question of whether using deceptive means to induce a business transaction with no contemplation of causing economic loss constitutes mail or wire fraud, the latest challenge in a line of cases that seeks to narrow the reach of federal fraud statutes.

  • December 09, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Pays SEC $15M Over Theft By Ex-Reps

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a $15 million penalty against a Morgan Stanley subsidiary Monday, saying the company failed to put in place procedures that may have earlier caught four former employees who spent years stealing from clients.

  • December 09, 2024

    Petrobras Calls On Justices To Review Samsung RICO Suit

    The American subsidiary of Brazil's state-owned oil company called on the U.S. Supreme Court to unravel the Fifth Circuit's decision blocking its racketeering claim against Samsung Heavy Industries over an alleged $1.6 billion bribery scheme involving drillship contracts.

  • December 09, 2024

    Feds Says Colo. Man's Investing Scheme Fleeced Pro Athletes

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed a civil lawsuit accusing a Colorado man of swindling investors, including unidentified professional athletes, out of more than a million dollars.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year

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    As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • 'Pig Butchering': The Scam That Exploits Crypto Confusion

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    Certain red flags can tip off banks to possible "pig-butchering," and with the scam's increasing popularity, financial institutions need to take action to monitor entry points into the crypto space, detect suspicious activity and provide a necessary backstop to protect customers, say Brandon Essig and Mary Parrish McCracken at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Opinion

    Agencies Should Reward Corporate Cyber Victim Cooperation

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    The increased regulatory scrutiny on corporate victims of cyberattacks — exemplified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against SolarWinds — should be replaced with a new model that provides adequate incentives for companies to come forward proactively and collaborate with law enforcement, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Ways Life Sciences Cos. Can Manage Insider Trading Risk

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    In light of two high-profile insider trading jury decisions against life sciences executives this year, public companies in the sector should revise their policies to account for regulators' new and more expansive theories of liability, says Amy Walsh at Orrick.

  • How Ripple Final Judgment Fits In Broader Crypto Landscape

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    The Southern District of New York's recent $125 million civil penalty levied in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ripple will have a broad impact on the crypto industry as it was the first to hold that blind sales of digital assets are not securities, even if deemed securities in other circumstances, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

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