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White Collar
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December 12, 2024
Wash. Man Gets 41 Months For Gamer-Duping Crypto Scam
A Washington federal judge has sentenced a Spokane man to 41 months in prison for running a crypto scheme in which he allegedly induced victims he met online, including users of dating apps and "Call of Duty" players, and via hailed rides to sink over $350,000 into a phony crypto investment fund.
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December 12, 2024
Judge Troubled By Conduct Of Pot Farmer And State Officials
A federal judge said this week that he's concerned by the "tone and tenor" that both a medical marijuana cultivator and Oklahoma law enforcement officials have taken in a case involving millions of dollars' worth of farm equipment destroyed during an erroneous raid, saying he's going to be looking closely at the conduct of all parties.
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December 12, 2024
2 Deny Joining Would-Be Trump Assassin To Target Journalist
Two New York City men on Thursday denied participating in a plot to kill a noted journalist and Iran critic, pleading not guilty to murder-for-hire charges that claim they worked for a foreign agent who also is tasked with targeting Donald Trump.
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December 12, 2024
Trump Vows Immediate Jan. 6 Pardons As DOJ Doubles Down
President-elect Donald J. Trump said he plans to issue swift pardons for people accused or convicted of rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to keep him in power, as prosecutors said in one case that accepting such a pardon would amount to an admission of guilt.
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December 12, 2024
Former CFO Admits To Stealing $1.3M From SF Law Firms
A former chief financial officer of two San Francisco law firms admitted to stealing more than $1.3 million from his former employers via several fraudulent schemes, including redirecting firm payments to a nonprofit organization he set up privately.
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December 12, 2024
Ex-FBI Informant Admits To False Accusations In Biden Case
A former FBI informant accused of making fake criminal accusations against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, will plead guilty to tax evasion and falsifying records in a federal investigation, according to a deal filed Thursday in a California federal court.
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December 12, 2024
Calif. Man Indicted In $8.8M Phishing Scheme
A California man was indicted on charges he participated in a phishing email scheme that stole about $8.8 million from bank accounts belonging to businesses, individuals and the town of Bristol, Rhode Island.
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December 12, 2024
Biden Commutes Nearly 1,500 Sentences In Clemency Record
President Joe Biden announced Thursday he was commuting the prison sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans he said had successfully rehabilitated themselves, the largest number ever in a single day, according to a statement by the White House.
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December 11, 2024
Calif. Judge Admonished After Throwing Papers At Atty
California's Commission on Judicial Performance publicly admonished a state judge Tuesday, saying he violated standards of conduct by throwing papers at an attorney in court and by misleading the commission last year about his planned retirement date, purportedly to influence the outcome of a misconduct investigation at that time.
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December 11, 2024
SEC Must Revisit $23M Demand In Collectibles Fraud Case
A New Jersey federal judge has ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to recalculate its $23 million bid for disgorgement in a long-running suit against a sports memorabilia merchant found liable at trial last year for ripping off investors, in part by lying about the value of two contracts signed by baseball legend Jackie Robinson.
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December 11, 2024
Ex-Telecom CEO Charged With Insider Trading On His Own Firing
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that former Comtech Telecommunications Corp. CEO Ken Peterman has been charged with insider trading after he used nonpublic information about the company and his own impending termination to profit from the sale of tens of thousands of dollars' worth of Comtech stock.
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December 11, 2024
Pot Farmer Opposes Sanctions In Suit Over Mistaken Raid
An Oklahoma medical marijuana cultivator whose property was destroyed when state drug enforcers mistakenly raided his legal farm is pushing back on efforts to hit him with sanctions for allegedly being belligerent during a deposition, telling a federal court that he's offered to sit down for a second round of questioning.
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December 11, 2024
Ex-Rep. TJ Cox Reaches Plea Deal On Fraud Charges
Former U.S. Rep. T.J. Cox reached a deal with California federal prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty to two charges and pay up to a $3.5 million fine over allegations he stole from his companies and took illegal campaign contributions, according to a plea agreement filed Wednesday.
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December 11, 2024
CFTC Wraps With Last Defendant In IcomTech Crypto Ponzi
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's litigation over the IcomTech cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme has come to a close now that a fifth defendant has been ordered to pay restitution for his role in the $3.5 million scheme.
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December 11, 2024
NRA Ordered To Reform Policies After NY Misconduct Verdict
A New York judge ordered changes to the National Rifle Association's board structure and organizational policies Wednesday to "prevent future violations of law," following a jury verdict that found widespread financial misconduct and whistleblower retaliation within the gun group.
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December 11, 2024
Ill. Atty Convicted Of Tax Fraud, Scripting Witness Testimony
An Illinois attorney has been convicted of tax fraud, witness tampering and contempt in a federal court retrial on charges that he filed false tax returns, alongside added charges that he tried to script an employee's testimony and violated court orders, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
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December 11, 2024
SEC Sues Disbarred Calif. Atty And Son For Securities Fraud
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a suit against a father-son duo and a broker for allegedly running a Ponzi-like scheme disguised as an investment company for a start-up content streaming app, raising over $17 million from at least 40 investors.
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December 11, 2024
High Court Bar's Future: Haynes Boone's Daniel Geyser
Daniel L. Geyser of Haynes and Boone LLP is an unconventional U.S. Supreme Court advocate in every respect, from the path he forged to become one of the high court's frequent arguers to the way he runs his current practice from more than half a country away from the nation's capital.
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December 11, 2024
Feds Say TD Bank Worker Helped Launder Drug Money
A former employee of TD Bank NA who worked in Florida has been arrested and charged with assisting in a money laundering scheme that used the Toronto-based financial institution to illicitly send millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from the United States to Colombia, according to documents filed in federal court.
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December 11, 2024
Law Firm Manager Gets Prison For Bribes In No-Fault Scam
A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday hit a former law firm manager with a five-year prison sentence for paying $800,000 in bribes that fueled a $70 million no-fault automobile insurance fraud racket, saying his lawbreaking "was massive in scope."
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December 11, 2024
Doctors Group Asks DC Circ. To Pause Pot Hearings
A group of doctors who advise their patients on medical cannabis is asking the D.C. Circuit to put a stay on hearings set for January over whether to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act, saying they were unfairly denied the chance to participate in those hearings.
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December 11, 2024
Black Realtor, Client Cuffed During House Showing Can Sue
The Sixth Circuit has partially reinstated a lawsuit filed by a Black real estate agent and his client who were arrested while touring a Michigan house for sale after a neighbor called the police, reviving an unlawful detention claim against one of the officers.
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December 11, 2024
Nigerians Impersonated US Brokers For $3M Scam, Feds Say
Three Nigerian nationals were charged on Wednesday with running a nearly $3 million internet investment fraud scheme in which they impersonated legitimate securities brokers and investment advisers, misappropriated the seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and stole from at least 28 investors.
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December 11, 2024
Temp Agency Owner Gets Prison For $2M Tax Scheme
A temp agency owner was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty in Massachusetts federal court to paying employees under-the-table wages to avoid $2.1 million in taxes.
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December 11, 2024
Cross-Border Criminal Antitrust Trial Will Stay In Houston
A case against a group of defendants accused of using violence to monopolize the cross-border sale of used cars from the U.S. into Central America must stay in Houston, a federal judge ruled this week.
Expert Analysis
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How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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3 Steps For Companies To Combat Task Scams
On the rise in the U.S., the task scam — when scammers offer a victim a fake work-from-home job — hurts impersonated businesses by tarnishing their name and brand, but companies have a few ways to fight back against these cons, says Chris Wlach at Huge.
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Perspectives
Protecting Survivor Privacy In High-Profile Sex Assault Cases
Multiple civil lawsuits filed against Sean "Diddy" Combs, with claims ranging from sexual assault and trafficking to violent physical beatings, provide important lessons for attorneys to take proactive measures to protect the survivor's anonymity and privacy, says Andrea Lewis at Searcy Denney.
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How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.
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A Look At Insurance Coverage For Government Investigations
Attorneys at Jenner & Block discuss the quirks and potential pitfalls of insurance coverage for government claims and investigations, including those likely to arise from the U.S. Department of Justice's recently announced whistleblower program.
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Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity
Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.
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New Export Control Guidance Raises The Stakes For Banks
Recent guidance from the Bureau of Industry and Security alerts banks that they could be liable for facilitating export control violations, the latest example of regulators articulating the expectation that both financial institutions and corporations serve as gatekeepers to mitigate crime and aid enforcement efforts, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Opinion
Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO
The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.
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The Ups And Downs Of SEC's Now-Dissolved ESG Task Force
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force, which was quietly disbanded sometime over the summer, was marked by three years of resistance from some stakeholders to ESG regulation, a mixed record in the courts and several successful enforcement actions, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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7 Tips To Help Your Witness Be A Cross-Exam Heavyweight
Because jurors tend to pay a little more attention to cross-examination, attorneys should train their witnesses to strike a balance — making it tough for opposing counsel to make their side’s case, without coming across as difficult to the jury, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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Series
Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.
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Understanding New ACH Network Anti-Fraud Rules
Many of the National Automated Clearing House Association’s recent amendments to ACH network risk management rules went into effect this month, so financial institutions and corporations must review and update their internal policies as needed, says Aisha Hall at Taft.
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The OIG Report: Bad Timing For FEC To Be Underresourced
With less than two weeks to the election, the Federal Election Commission’s job has never been more urgent, but a report from its Office of the Inspector General earlier this year found that the agency is facing a resource squeeze that will only get worse without corrective action, says Diana Shaw at Wiley.