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White Collar
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August 22, 2024
5th Circ. Says No Tolling For COVID, Trims Atty's Conviction
The Fifth Circuit on Thursday knocked a false statement charge off Houston attorney Richard Plezia's conviction for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar ambulance-chasing kickback scheme but upheld the rest of his conviction, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by helping another lawyer evade federal income taxes.
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August 22, 2024
3rd Circ. Denies Liberian Bank Whistleblower's Asylum Bid
The Third Circuit ruled Thursday that a Liberian man can't claim asylum despite having "suffered horrors" after unearthing a fraud scheme involving Liberian government officials' relatives and refusing a politician's bribe because he did not show evidence that his alleged perpetrators targeted him for having an anti-corruption political opinion.
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August 22, 2024
Philly Contractor Gets Probation For Taking Union Money
A Philadelphia contractor who accepted union money embezzled by John Dougherty, former business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, to renovate the labor leader's personal properties was sentenced to three years of probation Thursday.
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August 22, 2024
Debtors Claim $3M Award Is Tainted By Fraud In China
Two Chinese debtors said to owe nearly $3 million under an arbitral award issued to an investment company in the People's Republic of China have asked a California federal court to vacate an order enforcing the award earlier this year, saying the company participated in criminal fraud.
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August 22, 2024
Feds Seize $5M In Crypto 'Pig Butchering' Scams
Federal prosecutors in North Carolina snagged nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency that they said on Thursday came from crooks masquerading as lovers, luring starry-eyed paramores into phony investments, in what's known as a "pig butchering" scam.
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August 22, 2024
Ex-MiMedx Sales Rep Says Fraud Schemes Pushed Her Out
A former employee of controversial biotech firm MiMedx who was sued for joining a competitor earlier this year hit the company back with a counterclaim Tuesday charging that she was forced out for refusing to go along with the company's alleged flouting of U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations and rampant overbilling schemes.
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August 22, 2024
Ex-Morgan Stanley Representative Concedes SEC Suit
A former Morgan Stanley representative who was criminally convicted in a $4.8 million Ponzi scheme has conceded in a suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying he agrees with the agency that judgment should be issued against him.
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August 22, 2024
Smuggling Suspect Arrested Over '22 Migrant Deaths In Texas
A Guatemalan national was arrested Wednesday in his home country at U.S. officials' request for his alleged role in a human smuggling operation blamed for the deaths of 53 migrants who were found in a tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
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August 22, 2024
Feds Ask For $395M Forfeiture In Bitcoin Fog Case
A D.C. federal judge said he was inclined to side with prosecutors seeking a $395 million forfeiture order for convicted Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov, at least as a preliminary step ahead of the 35-year-old's sentencing for money laundering.
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August 22, 2024
Feds, Ex-Detroit Mayor Spar Over Restitution, Residency
Federal prosecutors and former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick are clashing over restitution, with the feds seeking to collect some $6,700 the Michigan Department of Treasury uncovered and Kilpatrick claiming the money is off limits, challenging how much he owes and pushing to have the case sent to Georgia.
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August 22, 2024
Nadine Menendez's Bribery Trial Delayed Until 2025
The bribery trial of former U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's wife is delayed until at least January because she is being treated for cancer, a New York federal judge ruled Thursday.
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August 22, 2024
NY AG Tells Appeals Court To Uphold $465M Trump Judgment
Donald Trump has barely challenged the extensive proof of financial statement lies undergirding a $465 million civil fraud judgment against him and his co-defendants, New York's attorney general said in an appeals brief looking to preserve the bench verdict.
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August 22, 2024
Feds Accuse NYC Man Of Acting As Chinese Agent
Manhattan federal prosecutors have accused a naturalized U.S. citizen of acting as an agent of the People's Republic of China and relaying intelligence to the Chinese government.
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August 22, 2024
Tom Girardi Takes The Stand In His Criminal Fraud Trial
Disbarred attorney Tom Girardi took the stand Thursday in his California federal fraud trial and denied stealing from any of his clients, while also showing a strong grasp of past events and people but claiming to have no memory of the trial's witnesses and key moments, or to even know his own lawyer's name.
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August 22, 2024
Insurer, Atty Drop Case Linked To Bogus Check Scheme
An insurance firm has agreed to drop its claim seeking a declaration from a Washington federal court that it is not on the hook to cover a Seattle-area solo practitioner over an alleged counterfeit check scheme, after the bank and attorney settled their underlying dispute.
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August 22, 2024
Army Adviser Gets 12 Years For Scamming Gold Star Families
A former New Jersey financial counselor with the U.S. Army and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve was sentenced to 151 months in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding Gold Star families and other related crimes, the U.S. attorney's office announced.
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August 22, 2024
Mike Lynch's Path From Tech Founder To DOJ Target
Friends and colleagues paid tribute to Mike Lynch following his death in a yachting accident on Thursday, hailing the British tech entrepreneur for the decades he spent furthering the industry despite the legal troubles that threatened to overshadow his career.
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August 22, 2024
Crypto Lobbyist Hit With FTX Campaign Finance Charges
Manhattan federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Michelle Bond, a crypto industry lobbyist and the girlfriend of convicted former FTX executive Ryan Salame, has been charged with getting the now-defunct digital asset exchange to illegally finance her unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign.
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August 22, 2024
'Beloved By Everyone': Attys Recall Clifford Chance's Morvillo
Clifford Chance LLP partner Christopher Morvillo, who died this week after a luxury yacht he was on sank off the coast of Sicily, is being remembered not only as a lion of the legal community but also as an "extraordinary human being" and a "Renaissance man" who was devoted to his family.
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August 22, 2024
Mike Lynch's Body Reportedly Recovered From Yacht Wreck
Mike Lynch, founder of technology company Autonomy, died when a yacht he was aboard sank off the Sicilian coast, Italian authorities confirmed to multiple news outlets on Thursday, after a trip the entrepreneur had reportedly chartered with his legal team to celebrate their victory in a U.S. fraud case.
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August 21, 2024
FTX's Salame Says Feds Broke Deal Not To Probe Girlfriend
Former FTX executive Ryan Salame urged a New York federal judge Wednesday to either vacate his May conviction or stop federal prosecutors from investigating his domestic partner Michelle Bond for related political campaign-finance offenses, saying prosecutors induced his guilty plea by promising not to probe Bond.
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August 21, 2024
Hunter Biden Can't Link Trauma, Drug Abuse To Tax Charges
Hunter Biden can't tell jurors in his criminal tax trial that traumatic events like his brother's death caused his addiction, which led to a diminished mental capacity and his failure to pay taxes, a California federal judge said Wednesday, noting the information was irrelevant and not backed by expert opinion.
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August 21, 2024
Girardi Faked Dementia Symptoms, Neurologist Testifies
A neurologist with Vanderbilt University testified Wednesday in Tom Girardi's criminal fraud trial in California federal court that the disbarred attorney was likely exaggerating his cognitive problems in late 2020 just as his law firm imploded into bankruptcy and his legal problems mounted because he believed it would be "beneficial."
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August 21, 2024
Ex-Vitol Oil Trader Pleads Out To Texas FCPA Case In NY
A former Vitol oil trader on Wednesday admitted in New York federal court to charges brought in Texas accusing him of bribing Mexican officials to obtain business for the energy and commodities company, months after he was convicted in New York over similar conduct with Ecuadorian officials.
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August 21, 2024
TD Bank Designates $2.6B For Anti-Money Laundering Fines
A U.S. subsidiary of Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank said Wednesday that it has designated an additional $2.6 billion to cover the fines it expects to pay by the end of the year to resolve civil and criminal investigations into its compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Implementing Proposed AML Rules May Take More Guidance
Two recent rules proposed by financial regulators would modernize requirements for programs aimed at countering money laundering and terrorist financing by centering more robust risk assessments, but financial institutions may need more specific guidance before they could confidently comply, say Meghann Donahue and Nikhil Gore at Covington.
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Series
Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.
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2 High Court Rulings Boost Protections Against Gov't Reprisal
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Gonzalez v. Trevino and Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon significantly strengthen legal protections against retaliatory arrests and malicious prosecution, and establish clear precedents that promote accountability in law enforcement, say Corey Stoughton and Amanda Miner at Selendy Gay.
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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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From Muppet Heads To OJ's Glove: How To Use Props At Trial
Demonstrative graphics have become so commonplace in the courtroom that jurors may start to find them boring, but attorneys can keep jurors engaged and improve their recall by effectively using physical props at trial, says Clint Townson at Townson Consulting.
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Opinion
The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address
A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Opinion
It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union
As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.
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Why DOJ's Whistleblower Program May Have Limited Impact
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to report corporate misconduct, but the program's effectiveness may be undercut by its differences from other federal agencies’ whistleblower programs and its interplay with other DOJ policies, say attorneys at Milbank.
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Parsing FY 2024 DOJ Criminal Healthcare Fraud Enforcement
While the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division's strike force on healthcare fraud enforcement action shows an impressive doubling of criminal indictments, a closer look at the data offers important clues about underlying trends, including the comparably modest, accompanying increase in associated intended loss, say Roderick Thomas and Kathleen Cooperstein at Wiley.
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FTC Drives Crackdown On Connected Cars' Data Privacy Risk
After the Federal Trade Commission's warning to automakers about data privacy, which continues to emerge as a national concern, automakers must carefully examine their data collection, use and retention practices, say Catherine Castaldo and Michael Rubayo at Reed Smith.
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Jarkesy May Thwart Consumer Agencies' Civil Penalty Power
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy not only implicates future SEC administrative adjudications, but those of other agencies that operate similarly — and may stymie regulators' efforts to levy civil monetary penalties in a range of consumer protection enforcement actions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Lessons From Recent SEC Cyber Enforcement Actions
The recent guidance by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance is helpful to any company facing a cybersecurity threat, but just as instructive are the warnings raised by the SEC's recent enforcement actions against SolarWinds, R.R. Donnelley and Intercontinental Exchange, say attorneys at O'Melveny.