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White Collar
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May 16, 2024
'Christian' Co. Scammed WWII Vet Out Of $300K, Feds Say
Five members of an Alabama-based self-described Christian company were indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from a scheme in which they allegedly took at least $300,000 from a World War II veteran after telling him the money would pay for a vocational school.
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May 16, 2024
Trial Stream Failure Doesn't Violate Rights, Colo. Panel Finds
A Colorado state appeals court ruled Thursday that a trial that was livestreamed with inadequate audio and video did not violate the defendant's right to a public trial because there were still seats available in an open courtroom.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Pistons Guard Denied Bail For Healthcare Scheme Appeal
A former Detroit Pistons point guard was denied bail Thursday while he appeals his conviction and 18-month prison sentence in a case where prosecutors accused ex-players of defrauding the NBA's healthcare plan.
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May 16, 2024
Carhartt Heiress's Atty Stole Millions, Jury Told
A jury trial kicked off Thursday in a case against a Michigan lawyer accused of embezzling millions of dollars from trusts belonging to the granddaughter of Carhartt Inc.'s founder, with one of her financial managers testifying that the attorney made loans to himself without permission.
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May 16, 2024
Trump Says 1890 Ruling Can't Be 'Pigeonholed' By Ga. DA
Former President Donald Trump has renewed his bid to have two of his Georgia election interference charges dropped under an 1890 U.S. Supreme Court case, arguing prosecutors are trying to "improperly pigeonhole" the ruling as irrelevant to his criminal case.
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May 16, 2024
Ga. Judge Cites 'Exemplary Life' In 3-Year PPP Fraud Sentence
A Georgia woman convicted earlier this year of helping to launder the proceeds of a pandemic loan fraud scheme was hit with a three-year prison sentence on Thursday by a federal judge, who noted the woman has otherwise led an "exemplary life," warranting a sentence lower than what prosecutors had sought.
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May 16, 2024
Clean Energy CEO Gets 6 Years For Forgeries Netting $1.1M
The CEO of a Pennsylvania clean energy company was sentenced to six years in federal prison for defrauding investors out of $1.1 million and falsifying documents to cover his tracks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
11th Circ. Denies Ayahuasca Church's Bid For Rehearing
The Eleventh Circuit has refused to grant an en banc rehearing to a Florida church that wanted to use ayahuasca as a sacrament, leaving in place an appellate ruling that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration properly denied a religious exemption from federal law against the psychedelic substance.
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May 16, 2024
Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment
Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Pharma Exec Cops To Contempt For Barred Finance Work
A Boston federal judge on Thursday accepted a former pharmaceutical company executive's guilty plea to a criminal contempt charge for using an alias to work on a finance venture despite a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ban.
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May 16, 2024
Convicted NC Tech Exec, Wife Accused Of Defaming Couple
A couple facing claims they sabotaged a licensing deal that ultimately drove a North Carolina software company out of business have accused the company's co-founder and his wife of spending months slandering them online while the suit was otherwise on hold.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Minn. Public Defender Gets Probation For Tax Fraud
A former Minneapolis chief public defender who argued that he should receive a lenient sentence after resigning in disgrace amid accusations that he failed to pay taxes for years on his private law firm was sentenced to three years probation by a Minnesota federal court.
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May 16, 2024
Mass. Business Owner Charged In $18M Pandemic Loan Scam
A Massachusetts man was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he fraudulently sought $18 million in pandemic relief loans for multiple companies and used some of the proceeds to purchase a luxury condo while wiring other funds overseas.
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May 16, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial
Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.
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May 16, 2024
2nd Circ. Backs Win For Big Banks In Forex-Rigging Suit
The Second Circuit on Thursday backed a ruling in favor of a group of large banks accused of conspiring to manipulate the foreign currency exchange market in euros and dollars, agreeing with a lower court that the plaintiffs hadn't made qualifying transactions or shown how prices were distorted.
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May 16, 2024
Biden Admin Proposes To Loosen Restrictions On Marijuana
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that his administration has formally recommended relaxing restrictions on marijuana, marking the most significant federal policy shift on cannabis since the drug was criminalized more than 50 years ago.
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May 16, 2024
US Must Produce Emails Between IRS Managers, Docs Leaker
The government must produce emails between Internal Revenue Service managers and a former contractor who leaked thousands of wealthy people's tax returns, a Florida federal judge has ordered, saying the materials are relevant to a billionaire's case accusing the agency of responsibility for the leak.
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May 16, 2024
Conn. Medicaid Fraudster Gets 27 Months Over $1.6M Scheme
A Connecticut psychologist who pled guilty to filing $1.6 million in false claims to his state's Medicaid system has been sentenced to 27 months in prison, after the government sought 37 months and the fraudster himself had argued for no prison time at all.
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May 16, 2024
Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told
Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.
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May 16, 2024
Ex-Connecticut Budget Official Denies 22 Corruption Charges
A former Connecticut state budget official and beleaguered attorney who oversaw millions in state school construction funds pled not guilty on Thursday to a host of corruption charges, including that he coerced contractors into paying him kickbacks.
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May 15, 2024
Trump Taking Criminal Gag Order Appeal To NY's High Court
Former president Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to review a gag order intended to stop him from criticizing witnesses and others involved in his criminal fraud trial, according to a docket entry Wednesday, just a day after a lower appellate court refused to overturn the order.
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May 15, 2024
SolarWinds Says SEC's Cyber Breach Suit Goes Too Far
SolarWinds Corp. on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing the enterprise software company of deceiving investors about its lax cybersecurity, which left it open to a Russian hacking campaign.
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May 15, 2024
Conn. Strip Club Owner Ran 'Brothel,' Hid $5.7M, Feds Say
The man in charge of a Connecticut strip club and two of his associates operated the business as a brothel, took payments for "commercial sex acts," lied to secure a $150,000 federal COVID-19 relief grant, and hid $5.7 million in income from the IRS, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Water Co. To Pay $8.5M Criminal Fine Over Accounting Claims
Wastewater treatment company Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. has reached an $8.5 million agreement with federal prosecutors allowing the company to avoid criminal charges for allegedly inflating the company's revenue by $36 million.
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May 15, 2024
6th Circ. Frees Ex-Ohio Pol Pending Bribery Appeal
A former member of the Cincinnati City Council convicted of bribery and attempted extortion in connection with a sports betting redevelopment project spearheaded by a former Cincinnati Bengals player can stay out of prison while an appeal plays out, the Sixth Circuit said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Storytelling Strategies To Defuse Courtroom Conspiracies
Misinformation continues to proliferate in all sectors of society, including in the courtroom, as jurors try to fill in the gaps of incomplete trial narratives — underscoring the need for attorneys to tell a complete, consistent and credible story before and during trial, says David Metz at IMS Legal Strategies.
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$32.4M Fine For Info Disclosure Is A Stark Warning For Banks
The New York State Department of Financial Services and the Federal Reserve's fining of a Chinese state-owned bank $32.4 million last month underscores the need for financial institutions to have policies and procedures in place to handle confidential supervisory information, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Lessons From Rare Post-Verdict Healthcare Fraud Acquittal
A Maryland federal court recently overturned a jury verdict that found a doctor guilty of healthcare fraud related to billing levels for COVID-19 tests, providing defense attorneys with potential strategies for obtaining acquittals in similar prosecutions, says attorney Andrew Feldman.
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ChristianaCare Settlement Reveals FCA Pitfalls For Hospitals
ChristianaCare's False Claims Act settlement in December is the first one based on a hospital allegedly providing private physicians with free services in the form of hospital-employed clinicians and provides important compliance lessons as the government ramps up scrutiny of compensation arrangements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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EDNY Ruling Charts 99 Problems In Rap Lyric Admissibility
A New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Jordan powerfully captures courts’ increasing skepticism about the admissibility of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, particularly at a time when artists face economic incentives to embrace fictional, hyperbolic narratives, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.
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3 Principles For Minimizing The Risk Of A Nuclear Verdict
In one of the latest examples of so-called nuclear verdicts, a single plaintiff was awarded $2.25 billion in a jury trial against Monsanto — revealing the need for defense attorneys to prioritize trust, connection and simplicity when communicating with modern juries, say Jenny Hergenrother and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.
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Series
Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.
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Freight Forwarders And Common Carriers: Know Your Cargo
Freight forwarders and other nonprincipal parties involved in global cargo movement should follow the guidance in the multi-agency know-your-cargo compliance note to avoid enforcement actions should they fail to spot evasive tactics used in supply chains to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls, say attorneys at Venable.
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Takeaways From 9th Circ. Nix Of Ex-GOP Rep.'s Conviction
The Ninth Circuit recently reversed the conviction of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., for lying to the FBI, showing that the court will rein in aggressive attempts by the government to expand the reach of criminal prosecutions — and deepening a circuit split on an important venue issue, say attorneys at Skadden.
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SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap
As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.
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A Closer Look At Novel Jury Instruction In Forex Rigging Case
After the recent commodities fraud conviction of a U.K.-based hedge fund executive in U.S. v. Phillips, post-trial briefing has focused on whether the New York federal court’s jury instruction incorrectly defined the requisite level of intent, which should inform defense counsel in future open market manipulation cases, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert.
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Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand
Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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Skirting Anti-Kickback Causation Standard Amid Circuit Split
Amid the federal circuit court split over the causation standard applicable to False Claims Act cases involving Anti-Kickback Statute violations, which the First Circuit will soon consider in U.S. v. Regeneron, litigators aiming to circumvent the heightened standard should contemplate certain strategies, say Matthew Modafferi and Terence Park at Frier Levitt.
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A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards
In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.
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What New Calif. Strike Force Means For White Collar Crimes
The recently announced Central District of California strike force targeting complex corporate and securities fraud — following the Northern District of California's model — combines experienced prosecutorial leadership and partnerships with federal agencies like the IRS and FBI, and could result in an uptick in the number of cases and speed of proceedings, say attorneys at MoFo.