Nomination For New DOJ Fraud Chief Heads To Senate Floor

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Colin McDonald for the new position of assistant attorney general for fraud was sent to the full Senate on Thursday, after the Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to advance his nomination.

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9th Circ. Upholds Gun Ban For Domestic Violence Offenders

By Elizabeth Daley

Three men who were found to have used violence against their female partners in separate incidents were correctly convicted under a federal law prohibiting domestic abusers from possessing guns, the Ninth Circuit said, agreeing with other circuits that such restrictions were legal.

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7th Circ. Dissenters: Due Process Row Deserved Rehearing

By Parker Quinlan

A trio of judges on the Seventh Circuit accused the full appeals court of cementing a circuit split with its sister courts by refusing to rehear a case about whether incarcerated people moved into disciplinary housing are entitled to formal due process hearings.

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Fired 'Arctic Frost' Agents Accuse FBI Of Political Retribution

By Dorothy Atkins

Two former FBI agents who worked on the "Arctic Frost" investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss have accused the government of abruptly firing them in an unconstitutional act of "political retribution."

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Calif. Backs Claims Of 'Intolerable' ICE Detention Center

By Madeline Lyskawa

The state of California on Thursday threw its support behind a group of immigrants held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement camp in the Mojave Desert who accuse the Trump administration of subjecting them to "dangerous conditions and pervasive abuses."

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Wash. Outlaws Face Coverings On ICE Agents, Other Officers

By Rachel Riley

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a pair of bills on Thursday, one banning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other law enforcement officers from hiding their faces with masks, and another prohibiting impersonators from misusing badges and insignia.

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Ex-Top Cop Charged With Gambling Dept. Funds Faces Judge

By Aaron Keller

The former police chief of New Haven, Connecticut, appeared for the first time Thursday before a serious felony docket judge after being charged with embezzling $85,500 from two city funds while wagering nearly $4.5 million on the online gambling apps DraftKings and FanDuel.

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Ericsson Paid Terrorists At Americans' Expense, Families Say

By Lauren Berg

Families of U.S. civilians and service members killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan allege in a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court that telecommunications giant Ericsson made protection payments to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, helping to fund the terrorist groups' efforts to kill and kidnap Americans.

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Feds Say Atty Used Stolen Nonprofit Funds To Buy Crypto

By Matthew Santoni

An attorney and former president of the nonprofit preserving Pittsburgh's Duquesne Incline has been indicted, accused of embezzling nearly $1.4 million from the organization, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

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Ex-Bank CEO Cops To $13.6M Fraud, Evading Sanctions

By Carolina Bolado

The former CEO of the Puerto Rico-based Nodus International Bank pled guilty Thursday to running a scheme that stole more than $13.6 million from the now-collapsed bank and evading sanctions on Venezuela.

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Brief

Ex-Hawks Exec Faces April Sentencing In $3.8M Fraud Case

By Kelcey Caulder

A former finance executive with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks who pled guilty to wire fraud after being accused of embezzling more than $3.8 million from the team is set to be sentenced in April in Atlanta.

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Series

Coaching Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Coaching youth soccer for my 7-year-old son's team has sharpened how I communicate with clients, prepare witnesses, work within teams and think about leadership, making me a more thoughtful and effective lawyer in many ways, says Joshua Holt at Smith Currie.

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Sitting Judges Take Stand Over Threats Growing 'Ordinary'

By Jake Maher

On the heels of an ethics opinion giving them wider latitude to speak publicly, sitting federal judges brought attention Thursday to the increasing threats against them and their family members, warning about the dangers of such threats becoming "ordinary."

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Anatomy Of A Citation Hallucination: AI Edit, Associate Review

By Rachel Riley

Counsel for consumers in a supplement labeling lawsuit against Amazon responded Wednesday to a Seattle federal judge's order to explain an AI-hallucinated citation, saying the error was introduced by a generative artificial intelligence tool used to "harmonize" drafts of a brief, then missed by a fifth-year Boies Schiller associate tasked with checking the citations.

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Jackson Walker, US Trustee Reach Deal On Fee Settlements

By Vince Sullivan

The Office of the U.S. Trustee and law firm Jackson Walker LLP on Wednesday resolved the bankruptcy watchdog's opposition to a series of settlements tied to a romantic relationship between a former Jackson Walker attorney and a now-retired bankruptcy judge.

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Judge Quashes Subpoena Of 5 Firms That Repped Twitter

By Rae Ann Varona

A Delaware federal court ruled Thursday that six former Twitter employees cannot subpoena five law firms that represented the social media company in connection with its acquisition by Elon Musk, rejecting the employees' "conclusory allegations" that the company and Musk used the firms to make false promises of severance benefits.

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Judge Digs Into Counsel Over 'Astronomically High' Fee Bid

By Nadia Dreid

Attorneys who represented classes of people who say they received harassing phone calls from real estate agents in violation of federal telemarketing laws are asking for way too much of the $20 million settlement, according to the California federal judge who tore into them Wednesday.

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DOJ Antitrust Head Tells Staff: Don't Worry About Criticism

By Bryan Koenig

The acting head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division said Thursday that he pays no heed to criticism of the agency and tells staff to do the same, while asserting in Washington, D.C., remarks that there's no better time to come work for the DOJ.

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