Overall
Key cases
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Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
White Collar
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May 13, 2013
2nd Circ. Won't Free Ex-FBI Agent Who Hid Affair With Source
The Second Circuit on Monday upheld a former FBI agent’s conviction and one-year sentence on charges he lied about an affair with a source in a mortgage fraud investigation, ruling that prosecutors did not target him because of his race.
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May 13, 2013
Ranbaxy Pays Record $500M To End Tainted Drug Claims
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. will pay $350 million to settle a Maryland whistleblower False Claims Act suit over selling allegedly adulterated drugs to several government health care programs, plus an additional $150 million after pleading guilty to related felony charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
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May 13, 2013
Jones Day Adds Gov't Contracts Pro From Dickstein Shapiro
Jones Day has bolstered its government regulation practice by hiring a former Dickstein Shapiro LLP partner who also has experience as a trial lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, it said Monday.
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May 13, 2013
Level Global Founder Gets 6 1/2 Years For Insider Trading
Anthony Chiasson, a hedge fund founder who made an estimated $68 million on bets in Dell Inc. and Nvidia Corp. as part of a “criminal club” of insider traders, was sentenced Monday to 78 months in prison.
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May 13, 2013
Q&A With Day Pitney's Helen Harris
The need for quality legal representation for people of limited means is large and growing, the work is rewarding, and we can probably all try to do a little more, says Helen Harris, a partner with Day Pitney LLP specializing in government and regulatory investigations.
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May 10, 2013
Ex-Salomon Head Sues Citigroup Over Secretary's $3M Theft
The former managing partner of Salomon Brothers launched a suit in New York state court Thursday alleging Citigroup Inc. is liable for over $3 million that was stolen from him by his now-convicted former secretary, who was a Citigroup employee.
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May 10, 2013
Atty Fee Award In $219M Madoff Investor Deal OK'd By Judge
Class action attorneys on Thursday won their contentious bid for a cut of the landmark $219 million settlement with a Bank of New York Mellon Corp.-owned investment adviser and others that investors had accused of pouring client funds into Bernard Madoff's operations despite warning signs about his scam.
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May 10, 2013
Ex-UCLA Prof Cops To DARPA Nanotech Fraud
A former University of California, Los Angeles, physics professor agreed Thursday to plead guilty to charges that he defrauded the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency by faking bills for nanotechnology research, a crime that will cost him nearly $1.7 million in penalties.
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May 10, 2013
Texas Officials Launch Criminal Probe Of Plant Blast
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Friday said it has ordered a criminal investigation into the April 17 West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that leveled the facility and left the surrounding town in rubble.
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May 10, 2013
Trustee’s Objection Leads To Peregrine Class Action Stay
A federal judge in Chicago on Friday put a hold on class action litigation over Peregrine Financial Group Inc.’s failure after the estate’s bankruptcy trustee found potentially “viable claims” against JPMorgan Chase & Co. and U.S. Bank N.A. over the handling of customer funds.
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May 10, 2013
UK Floats Criminal Penalties For Design Counterfeiting
A new U.K. intellectual property bill would introduce prison sentences for those convicted of counterfeiting registered designs, in a move U.K. ministers say adds needed protections for the country’s growing design sector and streamlines already-existing intellectual property laws.
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May 10, 2013
German Banker Drops Appeal Of Formula 1 Bribery Sentence
A German banker sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for accepting a $44 million bribe in connection with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd.’s acquisition of a controlling interest in Formula One racing reportedly dropped his appeal of his sentence on Friday.
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May 10, 2013
Q&A With Carlton Fields' Kevin Napper
If the criminal justice system is going to function in a fundamentally fair and efficient manner, prosecutors have a fundamental obligation to provide the accused with all of the discovery in a criminal case — not just the discovery that helps the prosecution, says Kevin Napper, a shareholder with Carlton Fields specializing in white collar criminal defense.
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May 10, 2013
Chemical Co. CEO Cops To Charges Over Employee Death
The CEO of defunct Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services LLC pled guilty in Texas federal court Thursday to failing to protect an employee who died from inhaling poisonous gas, with criminal charges still pending against the company.
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May 9, 2013
Mutual Benefits Exec Loses Bid For New Trial On $837M Scam
A Florida federal judge on Thursday denied a new trial for a former Mutual Benefits Corp. executive convicted of money laundering and obstructing justice in an alleged $837 million insurance investment scam, saying she did not see evidence of prejudice in the verdict.
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May 9, 2013
Ceglia Must Pay Facebook's Document-Compelling Costs
A New York federal judge on Thursday ordered now-indicted Paul Ceglia, who claims a disputed contract with Facebook Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg gives him 50 percent of the social networking giant, to pay more than $3,700 Zuckerberg spent in compelling documents from the alleged fraudster.
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May 9, 2013
Arthrocare Exec Cops To $400M Securities Fraud Scheme
A former executive of surgical instrument maker ArthroCare Corp. on Thursday admitted he participated in a scheme to inflate company earnings by tens of millions of dollars and hid sales terms and commission payment information, leading to a $400 million loss for investors.
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May 9, 2013
FBI Tracking Device Use OK'd, To Privacy Groups' Dismay
A man accused of an online tax fraud scheme lost an Arizona federal court bid on Wednesday to suppress electronic evidence gathered by the FBI’s so-called Stingray technology, in a ruling that civil liberties advocates fear may set a precedent for government misuse of electronic surveillance.
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May 9, 2013
8 Cybercrooks Charged In Global $45M ATM Heist
Federal authorities on Thursday charged eight alleged cybercriminals in New York with money laundering and fraud for allegedly helping steal $45 million by hacking into global financial institutions, stealing prepaid debit card data and making fraudulent ATM withdrawals.
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May 9, 2013
Insider Trader Can’t Postpone Prison Time For Family Time
A New York federal judge on Wednesday rejected convicted insider trader Todd Newman’s request that he be allowed to spend more time with his daughter before the beginning of his 4 1/2-year prison sentence.
Expert Analysis
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When You Lose The Race To Corporate Leniency
In the wake of recent criminal antitrust investigations in the financial services industry, alternative arrangements have emerged for dilatory cartelists who wish to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division but have missed the opportunity for corporate leniency, say Kellie Lerner and Elizabeth Friedman of Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP.
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We Need More Diversity In Mediation
In our increasingly interconnected global marketplace, U.S. corporations could well profit from engaging alternative dispute resolution practitioners who are familiar with these diverse cultures. But problems in the development and retention of minority neutrals exist, even as the U.S. population grows more and more diverse, says Ariel Belen, a panelist with JAMS and former associate justice of the New York Supreme Court.
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Another Shot In The Dark At FCPA Reform
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resource guide did its job — it provided the most comprehensive statement of enforcement ever provided by a prosecutor. Yet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently asked for more clarification. After winning a number of clarifications through the resource guide, the chamber needs to quit while it's ahead, says Michael Volkov of The Volkov Law Group LLC.
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FCPA Scrutiny For Gaming Industry: Beyond Las Vegas Sands
The parent company of Las Vegas Sands Corp. recently reported in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the company may have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The Sands investigation will have ripple effects throughout the international gaming industry, bringing further anti-corruption attention to one of the most heavily regulated industries, say attorneys with Snell & Wilmer LLP.
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Finally, 8 Factors Governing FIRREA Civil Penalty Awards
The recent decision by the Central District of California in United States v. Menendez may finally give the government and FIRREA defendants a framework for their discussions. The ruling, in a small civil bank fraud case brought against an individual, appears to be the first judicial decision setting forth the factors that a court should consider when imposing civil penalties under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, say attorneys with BuckleySandler LLP.
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Deterring SEC 'Shoot From The Hip' Enforcement
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has aggressively and arguably recklessly adopted a shoot-from-the-hip strategy in filing enforcement actions against purported foreign traders before conducting any substantive investigation to determine whether it can prove the elements for insider trading. This strategy is in need of a significant deterrent, say former SEC regional administrator Ira Lee Sorkin and Amit Sondhi of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
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Highlights From The SEC Speaks Conference
A back-to-basics "investor protection" theme emerged from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's annual SEC Speaks conference this year. Legislative, technological and international developments have made it necessary for the SEC to adapt its traditional regulatory regime, say attorneys with Perkins Coie LLP.
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10 Anti-Corruption Developments To Expect This Year
Based on anti-corruption enforcement in the United States and around the globe in 2012 and in the first two months of 2013, there are some Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and global anti-corruption developments we should expect as the year progresses, say attorneys with Fulbright & Jaworski LLP.
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A Look At The Health Care M&A Horizon
Factors such as the Affordable Care Act’s payment reforms, downward pressure on costs, enhanced focus among payers on outcomes and quality, and expanded Medicaid roles will continue in 2013 to influence M&A activity across industry sectors, increase regulatory and compliance costs, and provide additional incentives to federal and state agencies to boost enforcement efforts, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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A New Trend In Health Care Fraud Settlements
For the first time, companies have been placed on probation, under the supervision of federal courts and the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of health care fraud settlements. Companies may be exposed to more significant criminal penalties when the terms of a corporate integrity agreement are imposed as conditions of probation, say Jack Cinquegrana and Consuelo Valenzuela Lickstein of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP.