White Collar

  • September 09, 2024

    Ex-Lender Says FDIC Can't 'Ignore' Key High Court Precedents

    A former small-business financier battling a multimillion-dollar Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. enforcement action has doubled down on his Washington, D.C., federal court challenge to the agency's use of administrative proceedings, saying the regulator must be held to U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

  • September 09, 2024

    Defer To Trial Judges In Juror Bias Strikes, Colo. Justices Rule

    The Colorado Supreme Court said Monday an appellate court should not have itself evaluated a prosecutor's credibility in a case of potential racial bias against a Hispanic juror, ruling it instead needed to defer to the trial court.

  • September 09, 2024

    Ex-Finance Exec To Pay SEC $110K In Insider Trading Action

    A former finance director of pharmaceutical company Inhibrx Inc. has agreed to pay over $110,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that he bought his employer's shares as it prepared to announce good news about its principal drug candidate.

  • September 09, 2024

    'Terrorgram' Leaders Charged With Targeting Judge, Senator

    Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Monday charging two people with using the social media app Telegram to create a "Terrorgram Collective" of white supremacists who conspired to assassinate a federal judge, a U.S. attorney, a U.S. senator and others, and planned bombings and international hate crimes.

  • September 09, 2024

    Detainee Says Ex-Ga. Sheriff's Conviction Proves Liability

    A detainee who said he was one of a half-dozen detainees strapped to a chair for hours at a time by convicted former Sheriff Victor Hill has asked a Georgia federal judge to grant partial summary judgment in his civil rights lawsuit against the ex-lawman.

  • September 09, 2024

    Mass. High Court Hints At Notice Rule To Open Clerk Hearings

    Justices of Massachusetts' highest court on Monday appeared to signal that 28 men accused of patronizing high-end brothels catering to attorneys, political figures and other high-profile clients should have been given a chance to oppose a request by news organizations to open what are normally closed-door hearings.

  • September 09, 2024

    Sentencing Of Ex-Ecuador Official Delayed By Late Gov't Filing

    A frustrated Florida federal judge on Monday pushed back the sentencing of Ecuador's ex-comptroller — who was convicted of laundering more than $12 million in bribes — after admonishing the government for an "inexplicably and undeniably late" forfeiture motion filed at 4 p.m. Friday.

  • September 09, 2024

    Ex-NYC School Official Gets 2 Years For Bribery Scheme

    A former official in New York City's education system was sentenced in federal court Monday to two years in prison, while three others accused of conspiring with him also got prison time, after being convicted of taking bribes to help the co-defendants sell substandard foods to city schools.

  • September 09, 2024

    Owner Of Mass., NH Eateries Cops To $2M Tax Fraud

    The owner of three restaurants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire has pled guilty to failing to pay approximately $2 million in employment and state and local meals taxes over a six-year period, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts announced Monday.

  • September 09, 2024

    Think Tank Leader Re-Arrested On Foreign Agent Charges

    An Israeli-American professor who was indicted on charges of working as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government and international arms trafficking has been arrested again after he fled the authorities last year in Cyprus, the U.S. government told a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday.

  • September 09, 2024

    Baltimore Strikes $80M Opioid Settlement With Teva

    Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay Baltimore $80 million to resolve claims that the company inflamed the city's opioid crisis, the city of Baltimore announced Monday ahead of a trial slated to begin next week against the remaining defendants in the Maryland state court litigation.

  • September 06, 2024

    Covington Owes $100M For Malpractice, Ex-Client Claims

    A blockchain entrepreneur and attorney is seeking at least $100 million from Covington, claiming in a legal malpractice suit filed Friday in New York state court that he could have avoided years of fighting a federal extortion case if firm partners hadn't advised against handing prosecutors "clearly exculpatory evidence."

  • September 06, 2024

    DC Circ. Considers Age Of Ex-Trump Aide's Surveillance Claims

    Even after more than an hour of argument, the D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Friday that ex-Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page timely accused the Justice Department, the FBI and several individuals of various violations tied to their surveillance of him as they probed Russian election interference.

  • September 06, 2024

    Baltimore, DC Legal Wins Help Curb Police Property Seizures

    In a span of less than two weeks this summer, a coalition of nonprofit civil rights litigators and private pro bono counsel notched a pair of legal victories in cases over two mid-Atlantic city police departments’ property seizure. Lawyers have expressed hope the impact could reach past their communities.

  • September 06, 2024

    SEC Wins Suit Against Trader Who Reaped 'Maker-Taker' Fees

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday won summary judgment against a stock trader it accused of illegal wash trading when he traded to profit off so-called maker-taker fees paid out by major exchanges, with a New Jersey federal judge ruling that there are no issues of material fact in the suit, among other things.

  • September 06, 2024

    7th Circ. Backs Bulk Of CFTC's Fraud Claim Win Against CEO

    The Seventh Circuit has largely upheld a win for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, finding that the head of a Chicago-based brokerage conducted a multimillion-dollar options fraud scheme, but remanded on two claims related to whether the company was required to register as a commodity trading adviser.

  • September 06, 2024

    Crypto Project Finds Shkreli's Wu-Tang Claims 'Dubious'

    The crypto project suing Martin Shkreli for allegedly harming the value of a one-of-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album on Friday urged a federal judge to ensure Shkreli "fully" complies with an order directing him to surrender all copies of the album after the project found his recent submission lacking.

  • September 06, 2024

    Ex-CEO Of Defunct Solar Co. Seeks Sanctions In Fraud Suit

    The former CEO of a bankrupt solar energy firm filed a motion for sanctions Friday in Michigan federal court, alleging the plaintiffs' counsel misrepresented the ex-CEO's inability to produce information during a discovery meeting regarding claims he defrauded customers by selling faulty solar systems.

  • September 06, 2024

    Ex-Conn. Utility Execs Can't Shake Convictions At 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit issued a mammoth 140-page decision Friday upholding punishments including a $748,000 restitution order for three former executives convicted of stealing from a Connecticut utility cooperative, but the court threw out the utility's bid for a $9.6 million reimbursement for fronting the defendants' attorney fees.

  • September 06, 2024

    Calif. Panel Rejects PE Exec's Excess Coverage Claims

    A California state appeals court upheld the dismissal of a private equity executive's claims that two excess insurers had to cover the millions he said he and his companies incurred in litigation with his co-founder, finding he didn't sufficiently allege that underlying limits had exhausted first.

  • September 06, 2024

    Amnesty International Calls For Indigenous Activist's Release

    Amnesty International is urging President Joe Biden to grant clemency to a Native American activist serving a life sentence for his conviction in the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents, saying he's approaching his 80th birthday, and his release is necessary in the interests of justice and mercy.

  • September 06, 2024

    Judge Signals She'll Delay Bribery Trial Of Sitting Ill. Senator

    An Illinois federal judge indicated Friday she was inclined to postpone a December trial on bribery charges against state Sen. Emil Jones III over objections by the government, which argued Jones was charged two years ago of accepting a bribe from a red-light camera company representative and has continued to receive a taxpayer-funded salary.

  • September 06, 2024

    $111M Tax Fraud Scheme's Ringleader Sentenced To 14 Years

    The leader of a scheme to steal the identities of taxpayers and pose as their accountants to commit $111 million in tax fraud was sentenced Friday to more than 14 years in prison by a Texas federal judge, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • September 06, 2024

    CFPB's Zelle Scrutiny Leaves Banks Guessing On Next Moves

    As federal regulators turn up the heat on major banks over long-simmering complaints about fraud and scams on Zelle, the largest U.S. peer-to-peer payments platform, it remains unclear whether more banks could face scrutiny and what they can do to get ahead of it.

  • September 06, 2024

    'He Says, She Says' In Harvey Weinstein's America

    The controversial decision by New York's highest court to overturn Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault conviction has some lawmakers focusing intense new scrutiny on centuries-old legal jurisprudence barring evidence of a defendant's criminal propensity.

Expert Analysis

  • FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms

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    The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.

  • How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition

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    To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.

  • Best Text Practices In Light Of Terraform's $4.5B Fraud Deal

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    Text messages were extremely important in a recent civil trial against Terraform Labs, leading to a $4.5 billion settlement, so litigants in securities fraud cases need to have robust mobile data policies that address the content and retention of messages, and the obligations of employees to allow for collection, say Josh Sohn and Alicia Clausen at Crowell & Moring.

  • Tricky Venue Issues Persist In Fortenberry Prosecution Redo

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    Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was recently indicted for a second time after the Ninth Circuit tossed his previous conviction for improper venue, but the case, now pending in the District of Columbia, continues to illustrate the complexities of proper venue in "false statement scheme" prosecutions, says Kevin Coleman at Covington.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • 6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth

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    Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Malicious-Prosecution Ruling Shows Rare Restraint

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Chiaverini v. City of Napoleon, Ohio, declining to limit malicious-prosecution suits, is a model of judicial modesty and incrementalism, in sharp contrast to the court’s dramatic swings on other rights, says Steven Schwinn at the University of Illinois Chicago Law School.

  • Opinion

    Trump Immunity Ruling Upends Our Constitutional Scheme

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Trump v. U.S. decision elevates the president to imperial status and paves the way for nearly absolute presidential immunity from potential criminal prosecutions — with no constitutional textual support, says Paul Berman at the George Washington University Law School.

  • High Court Paves Middle Ground For Proceedings Obstruction

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Fischer sensibly leaves the door open for prosecutors to make more nuanced assessments as to whether defendants' actions directly or tangentially impair the availability or integrity of anything used in an official proceeding, without criminalizing acts such as peaceful demonstrations, say attorneys at Perry Law.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

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