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White Collar
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June 07, 2024
Ontrak CEO Had Anxiety Over Souring Cigna Deal, Jury Told
A former Ontrak Inc. consultant testified Friday in the trial of its founder who's accused of trading on insider information about Ontrak's souring relationship with Cigna Healthcare in 2021, telling California federal jurors he frequently expressed anxiety, saying that Ontrak must "save Cigna" and describing the situation as a nightmare.
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June 07, 2024
Ex-Prosecutors Join Effort To Free Imprisoned Binance Exec
More than 100 former federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents have called on the U.S. State Department to ramp up efforts to free Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance compliance executive and former IRS agent, from Nigerian custody over what they call false charges tied to money laundering and tax evasion.
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June 07, 2024
Feds Charge UK Trio Over $2M 'Evolved Apes' NFT Scheme
Three United Kingdom residents face criminal wire fraud and money laundering charges brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleging they misappropriated cryptocurrency worth roughly $2 million as part of a "rug pull scheme" involving the digital assets known as non-fungible tokens.
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June 07, 2024
Terraform Funder Must Face Class Claims In Illinois
Terraform Labs' financial backer Jump Trading LLC cannot consolidate a pair of proposed class actions accusing it of propping up the failing crypto platform, with a federal judge ruling that purchasers of a massively devalued crypto token can keep their lawsuit against the high-speed trading firm in Illinois.
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June 07, 2024
Conn. Judge Pushes State For Proof In $11M Kickback Case
The Connecticut state judge presiding over an $11 million false claims and kickbacks case against a compounding pharmacy appeared unconvinced Friday that the defendants submitted false claims for payment, peppering the government's counsel with requests to support assertions with case law and evidence that was put on at trial.
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June 07, 2024
Chicago-Area Man Charged With $60M COVID Test Fraud
A suburban Chicago man is facing healthcare fraud and money laundering charges over more than $60 million in Medicare reimbursement claims for over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits that were allegedly never provided, including thousands of tests for dead people.
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June 07, 2024
Trump Can Bring Atty To Presentence Interview
A New York judge ruled Friday that Donald Trump can bring his attorney with him when he sits down with a New York City probation officer for a presentence interview, granting an unusual accommodation to the former president before he is sentenced for his criminal conviction next month.
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June 07, 2024
SEC Fines Ex-AstraZeneca Insider $1.4M For Merger Trades
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered a former AstraZeneca employee to pay $1.4 million to settle claims he used nonpublic information to trade CinCor Pharma shares ahead of the public announcement that the two companies would merge.
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June 07, 2024
Hunter Biden Prosecutors Wrap Up Case As Daughter Testifies
Federal prosecutors who say Hunter Biden lied about his crack addiction when he bought a gun in 2018 wrapped up their case Friday with expert testimony about cocaine residue and street dealer lingo, as Biden's daughter kicked off testimony for the defense.
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June 07, 2024
6th Circ. Revives Investors' Suit Over Leech Tishman Advice
A Sixth Circuit panel has revived a group of investors' claims that Pittsburgh-based Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl's lawyers gave fraudulent and negligent advice about clean energy investments that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, reasoning that a one-year statute of limitations had been tolled for some claims and didn't apply to others.
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June 07, 2024
Connecticut Man Ran Illegal $1M Crypto Exchange, Feds Say
A 55-year-old Connecticut man is accused of ignoring warnings and operating an unlicensed exchange that charged fees for converting more than $1 million in cash, checks and money orders into cryptocurrency without a required license from the state banking commissioner, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
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June 07, 2024
Galvion To Pay $2.5M For Alleged US Gear With Foreign Parts
Military gear company Galvion Ltd. has agreed to a $2.5 million settlement to resolve allegations that it sold gear containing foreign-sourced components to the U.S. government despite knowing the components had to come from the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
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June 07, 2024
Cherokee Man Asks High Court To Undo Tribal Tag Charges
A Cherokee Nation man is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Michigan Supreme Court order that denied him the chance to appeal his traffic stop convictions, arguing that the state must be barred from broadening the definition of "registration plate" in regard to tribal-licensed tags.
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June 07, 2024
Texas AG, Spirit AeroSystems Duel Over Safety Probe
Spirit AeroSystems Inc. and Texas Attorney General Kenneth Paxton each asked a federal court for an early win in their dispute over the state's probe into Spirit's management, with Spirit arguing the state's Request to Examine statute violates the Fourth Amendment, and Paxton arguing it is a constitutionally compliant subpoena.
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June 07, 2024
Minn. Jury Convicts 5 In Food Aid Fraud Trial Marred By Bribe
A Minnesota federal jury on Friday convicted five out of seven defendants on a litany of charges alleging they schemed to defraud a federal food aid program during the COVID-19 pandemic, days after one juror told of being offered a $120,000 bribe to vote for acquittal.
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June 07, 2024
'Deceit On Deceit': 7th Circ. OKs Atty's Asset-Hiding Sentence
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Chicago-area lawyer's three-year sentence for hiding over $350,000 in her brother's bankruptcy, finding two sentence enhancements were properly applied since she "layered deceit upon deceit" to try to conceal assets and cover her tracks.
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June 07, 2024
Off The Bench: NFL On Trial, Betting Crackdowns, Tennis Suit
In this week's Off The Bench, the NFL stands trial in a massive antitrust class action over its Sunday Ticket broadcast package, a series of sports betting crackdowns makes waves in the MLB and the NBA, and the U.S. Tennis Association denies any liability for a player's sexual assault by her coach.
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June 07, 2024
Miami Official Can't Shake Zoning Abuse Claims
A Miami commissioner can't escape allegations that he and other city officials conspired to sabotage local businesses with zoning and safety laws after a pair of business owners backed the commissioner's opponent in a 2017 election, a Florida federal judge ruled.
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June 07, 2024
Ex-Mass. Town Official Charged With Defrauding Pot Investors
A former elected official in a Massachusetts town has been charged with raising nearly $500,000 from investors in two cannabis businesses he was starting, then using the funds to pay off debts from prior businesses, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
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June 07, 2024
Mich. Atty Convicted Of Client's Murder Gets License Pulled
The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board has suspended the license of a lawyer recently convicted of plotting to kill two of his clients, a jeweler and his wife, and of killing the jeweler, allegedly to gain access to their trust.
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June 07, 2024
Support Co. Can't Revive Suit Blaming Lindberg For Lost Biz
A customer support company that claimed its ties to convicted insurance mogul Greg E. Lindberg cost it an important client can't revive a fraudulent concealment suit, with the Fourth Circuit ruling Friday that Lindberg wasn't obligated to disclose his criminal conduct.
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June 07, 2024
Calif. Atty Faces Hacking Charge In Utility Billing Scandal
A San Fernando Valley attorney accused of scheming with lawyers representing the city of Los Angeles to settle a customer billing class action favorably for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also plotted to access the email and phone accounts of the judge overseeing the litigation, the State Bar of California asserted in an additional disciplinary charge filed Thursday.
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June 07, 2024
Ex-Insurance Broker Tells Jury He Bribed Sen. Menendez
A former insurance broker testified Friday that he bribed U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to intervene in an investigation by the New Jersey attorney general's office in return for a Mercedes-Benz convertible, which replaced a car that was totaled in a fatal crash involving the congressman's wife.
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June 07, 2024
SEC Fines Asian Food Supplier $3.9M Over Splurging Ex-CEO
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a $3.9 million settlement with HF Foods Group Inc. over claims that the food distributor issued false and misleading disclosures, just two days after the regulator settled with two HF Foods executives in a separate case over similar claims.
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June 07, 2024
Atty Comms Are Fair Game After NJ Guilty Plea, Feds Say
Prosecutors told a New Jersey federal court Friday that communications between convicted and later pardoned fraudster Eliyahu Weinstein and Shlomo Erez, his Israeli attorney, must be turned over in Weinstein's new fraud case as Erez pled guilty to involvement in the alleged scheme in late May.
Expert Analysis
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Boeing Saga Underscores Need For Ethical Corporate Culture
In the wake of recent allegations about Boeing’s safety culture, and amid the U.S. Department of Justice’s new whistleblower incentives, business leaders should reinvigorate their emphasis on compliance by making clear that long-term profitability requires ethical business practices, says Maxwell Carr-Howard at Dentons.
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Key Takeaways From 2024 Accountants' Liability Conference
At the recent annual Accountants' Liability Conference, regulators provided important commentary on new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board rulemaking and standard-setting initiatives, and emphasized regulatory priorities ranging from the tone at the top to alternative practice structures, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Why Jurors Balk At 'I Don't Recall' — And How To Respond
Jurors often react negatively to a witness who responds “I don’t remember” because they tend to hold erroneous beliefs about the nature of human memory, but attorneys can adopt a few strategies to mitigate the impact of these biases, say Steve Wood and Ava Hernández at Courtroom Sciences.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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10 Tips To Build Trust With Your Witness During Trial Prep
Preparing a witness for deposition or trial requires more than just legal skills — lawyers must also work to cultivate trust with the witness, using strategies ranging from wearing a hat when conducting mock cross-examination to offering them a ride to court before they testify, say Faye Paul Teller and Sara McDermott at Munger Tolles.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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8 Steps Companies Should Take After An Internal Investigation
Given the U.S. Department of Justice’s increasing focus on corporate compliance and remediation of misconduct, companies must follow through in several key ways after an internal investigation to ensure history does not repeat itself, say Jonathan Aronie and Joseph Jay at Sheppard Mullin.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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NY Public Campaign Funding May Attract Scrutiny From Feds
The upcoming elections across New York this year will be the first under the state’s public campaign finance program — which may broaden federal prosecutors' purview to target state election fraud and corruption, says Jarrod Schaeffer at Abell Eskew.
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Perspectives
Justices' Repeat Offender Ruling Eases Prosecutorial Hurdle
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Brown v. U.S., clarifying which drug law applies to sentencing a repeat offender in a federal firearms case, allows courts to rely on outdated drug schedules to impose increased sentences, thus removing a significant hurdle for prosecutors, says attorney Molly Parmer.
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12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews
Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Fintech Compliance Amid Regulatory Focus On Sensitive Data
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent, expansive pursuit of financial services companies using sensitive personal information signals a move into the Federal Trade Commission's territory, and the path forward for fintech and financial service providers involves a balance between innovation and compliance, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.