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White Collar
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July 11, 2024
Whispers, Curses As Menendez Trial Inches Toward Jury
Federal corruption prosecutors wound down their bribery case against Sen. Robert Menendez Thursday with a mixture of dramatic into-the-mic whispering and reliance on the adjective "damn" as they argued that nothing in the tale would make sense without the alchemizing element of crime.
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July 11, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Disbarred Atty's Prison Term For Fraud Plea
A disbarred California attorney can't reverse a Manhattan federal court's 5½-year prison sentence and $5.5 million restitution order that followed his guilty plea to wire fraud for a real estate and venture fraud scheme, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday.
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July 11, 2024
Colo. Panel Rejects 3rd Party Shields To Anti-Influencing Law
A Colorado law criminalizing attempts to influence public servants doesn't require an offender to personally influence the official "by means of deceit," a state appellate panel ruled Thursday, holding for the first time that a person can be liable for engaging in a plan of deception with a third party.
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July 11, 2024
Biden Taps Warren Protege, Ex-CFPB Atty For CFTC Seat
President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated a senior Office of Management and Budget official and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to replace one of two current CFTC members who themselves have been nominated for other offices.
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July 11, 2024
Ozy Media CEO Urges Jury To Reject 'Shady' Fraud Case
Counsel for Carlos Watson on Thursday told a Brooklyn federal jury not to trust prosecutors' "shady" claims that the Ozy Media founder and CEO defrauded lenders and investors by falsely inflating the news and entertainment startup's bottom line.
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July 11, 2024
Texas AG Claims He's About To Be Impeached Again
In a social media post about an upcoming Texas House committee meeting, Attorney General Ken Paxton said "weak-kneed" establishment Republicans and Democrats are conspiring on a second impeachment effort to try to remove him from office — a claim the committee chair called "farfetched fantasy."
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July 11, 2024
All Grand Jury Witnesses Get Civil Immunity, Colo. Panel Says
A Colorado state appeals court held for the first time Thursday that all types of grand jury witnesses have absolute immunity for their testimony, though they don't have sweeping protection for statements made before the proceedings start.
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July 11, 2024
Pa. Man Admits To Dick's Sporting Goods Insider Trading
A Pennsylvania man who netted nearly $825,000 in profits from Dick's Sporting Goods securities has pled guilty to insider trading using tips he obtained from a company employee, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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July 11, 2024
Baldwin Wasn't Only 'Rust' Actor With Live Rounds, Jury Told
Alec Baldwin's counsel established Thursday during a contentious second day of testimony in the "Rust" trial in New Mexico that he wasn't the only actor unknowingly carrying live ammunition on the film's set before the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer.
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July 11, 2024
'Bridgegate' Defense Offers Road Map For NJ RICO Case
Counsel for the powerful New Jersey mogul and Democratic operatives facing explosive racketeering charges are likely to justify their actions as just business, experts told Law360, describing defense tactics similar to the ones that absolved defendants in "Bridgegate," New Jersey's most notorious politics-fueled crime in recent history.
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July 11, 2024
Atty's Missteps Conflicted Her At Trial, Mass. Justices Say
Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday ruled that a man convicted of murder should get a new trial because his lawyer would have had to deride her own performance during her client's police interview in order to provide the best possible defense.
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July 11, 2024
YSL Prosecutors Oppose Judge's Recusal Amid Mistrial Bid
Prosecutors on Wednesday argued there is no reason Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville should stop overseeing the ongoing racketeering trial against Atlanta rapper Young Thug and his associates, approximately an hour after the rapper moved for a mistrial.
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July 11, 2024
Judge Warns Fake-Atty Suspect Not To Blow Off Court Dates
A convicted fraudster from Long Island pled not guilty Thursday in New York federal court to charges that he earned hefty fees while posing as a lawyer in a scam targeting inmates — and also was warned not to "sick out" of court dates.
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July 11, 2024
Ex-Union Leader Gets 6 Years For Bribery, Embezzlement
John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the former business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 in Philadelphia, was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison after being convicted of bribing a city councilman and stealing over $500,000 from the union.
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July 11, 2024
Engineering Co. Seeks Coverage Of Deal In $80M Suit
An engineering and design firm said its insurer must reimburse it for a settlement reached in an $80 million unfair business practice lawsuit, telling a Nebraska federal court the insurer wrongfully denied coverage, forcing the firm to defend itself.
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July 11, 2024
House Fails To Pass Inherent Contempt Resolution For AG
The House on Thursday failed to pass a Republican-led inherent contempt resolution for Attorney General Merrick Garland in hopes of obtaining audiotapes of President Joe Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents investigation, but the measure's sponsor promised to try again.
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July 10, 2024
BitMEX Cops To Flouting Anti-Money Laundering Rules
Offshore crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX pled guilty in New York federal court on Wednesday to a charge alleging it violated the Bank Secrecy Act by knowingly failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering and customer identification programs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
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July 10, 2024
Magnets Co. Must Face Export Control Violation Claims
A magnetics manufacturer couldn't ditch criminal charges that it shipped sensitive defense-related schematics to Chinese companies without a federal license, after a Kentucky judge ruled that it bears the burden of showing the data qualified for exceptions under export regulations.
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July 10, 2024
Nassar Sex Abuse Law Not Retroactive, Mich. Justices Say
The Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a legislative change to extend civil suit deadlines for certain victims of sexual assault as minors does not apply retroactively, finding that claims from a man who said he was assaulted by a priest in the 1990s were untimely.
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July 10, 2024
Chiquita Says Ecuador Banana Co. Prez Must Be Jailed
Chiquita Brands International asked a Florida federal court Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant for the president of an Ecuadorian banana exporter that has ignored court orders requiring the exporter to hand over financial information needed to execute a $6.9 million international arbitral award to Chiquita.
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July 10, 2024
Ex-VP Of Fla. Aerospace Co. Sentenced To Prison For Fraud
The former vice president of a Miami-based aerospace company was sentenced to just over a year in federal prison after he pled guilty to fraud-related charges in connection to a scheme that involved embezzling millions of dollars and splitting the proceeds with a co-conspirator.
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July 10, 2024
SEC Nabs $6.7M Over Fraud Scheme But Must Tweak Fines
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has secured a $6.7 million order against a retired attorney and a former broker accused of fraud tied to a purported energy company, but a Brooklyn federal judge has determined that the agency must recalculate the additional fines and other relief it wants imposed upon the two men.
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July 10, 2024
Proof Of Ozy Media CEO's Fraud Is Overwhelming, Jury Told
A New York federal prosecutor on Wednesday told the jury weighing the fate of Carlos Watson that the evidence presented at trial clearly shows that the former Ozy Media CEO was at the helm of a scheme to deceive investors into backing the struggling news and entertainment startup, by falsely inflating its financials and lying about the company's prospects in order to keep it afloat.
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July 10, 2024
Feds Say Guo Ran 'Fraud Empire' As Racketeering Trial Wraps
Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a jury on Wednesday to convict Chinese dissident Miles Guo for operating his political movement as a vast racketeering conspiracy that "brainwashed" supporters into spending more than $1 billion on scam investments.
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July 10, 2024
4th Circ. Says Parole Entry Did Not Interrupt Residency Status
The Fourth Circuit ruled that a Ghanaian national retained his status as a lawful permanent resident and is therefore eligible for U.S. citizenship, even though border officials refused to admit him into the country following a misdemeanor conviction for embezzlement.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E
Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.
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Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome
The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data
Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.
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CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes
Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.
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'Fat Leonard' Case Shows High Bar For Rescinding Guilty Plea
Prosecutors’ recent move in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, supporting several defendants’ motions to withdraw their guilty pleas, is extremely unusual – and its contrast with other prosecutions demonstrates that the procedural safeguards at plea hearings are far from enough, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers
A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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End Of Acquitted Conduct Sentencing Can Spark More Reform
The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent end to factoring acquitted conduct into federal sentences could signal the start of a more constitutionally sound advisory scheme, but Congress and the Supreme Court must first authorize the commission to resolve two constitutional errors baked into its guidelines, say Mark Allenbaugh at SentencingStats.com and Alan Ellis at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.
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Setting Goals For Kicking Corruption Off FIFA World Cup Field
The unprecedented tri-country nature of the 2026 men's World Cup will add to the complexity of an already complicated event, but best practices can help businesses stay on the right side of anti-corruption rules during this historic competition, say Sandra Moser and Emily Ahdieh at Morgan Lewis.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Don't Fall On That Hill: Keys To Testifying Before Congress
Because congressional testimony often comes with political, reputational and financial risks in addition to legal pitfalls, witnesses and their attorneys should take a multifaceted approach to preparation, walking a fine line between legal and business considerations, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Series
Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.