White Collar

  • October 20, 2025

    Tax Startup CEO Swindled $13M From Investors, SEC Says

    The CEO of a defunct tax-compliance startup lied to investors as she raised $13 million for her company, overstating its revenues by almost 900 times and falsely claiming she was a certified public accountant, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday in California federal court.

  • October 20, 2025

    3rd Circ. Suspects Process 'Circumvention' In US Atty Role

    The Third Circuit on Monday seemed inclined to back a district court's finding that the U.S. Department of Justice's designation of President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor violated federal law, with one jurist suggesting the appointment raised "serious constitutional implications."

  • October 20, 2025

    Comey Seeks Dismissal Of Case Brought Out Of 'Spite'

    Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey asked a Virginia federal court Monday to dismiss charges that he lied to Congress, arguing that his September indictment was ordered by President Donald Trump out of "personal spite," and fired back at claims that his lead attorney needs to be disqualified from the case.

  • October 20, 2025

    Mass. Clients' Protection Board Seeks $1M From Disbarred Atty

    A former Massachusetts attorney who was disbarred in 2023 and later pled guilty to embezzling funds from client accounts is now facing malpractice and conversion claims worth about $1 million.

  • October 20, 2025

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    This past week, the Delaware Chancery Court and Supreme Court handled a crowded corporate docket, weighing blockbuster merger appeals, shareholder settlement objections, fights over control involving an NBA franchise and a high-profile appeal from Elon Musk involving a massive payday from Tesla.

  • October 20, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Repeat Indictment For Medicare Fraud

    The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Monday the repeat indictment of a health clinic manager for what the Second Circuit called a massive, yearslong scheme to submit false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, effectively rejecting the manager's claims that his original trial was irreparably delayed.

  • October 17, 2025

    Quant Trader Tells Jury Of MIT Grads' $25M Crypto Ruse Plan

    A quantitative trader and former employee of two MIT-educated crypto entrepreneurs Friday told a Manhattan federal jury of how they planned months in advance to leverage a software glitch to obtain $25 million at the expense of other crypto traders on the Ethereum blockchain.

  • October 17, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs Biz Owner's Ponzi Conviction, 7-Year Sentence

    A Seventh Circuit panel on Friday upheld the wire fraud conviction and 90-month prison sentence handed to a business owner who lied to investors about the company's financial health and how it would use their money, saying there was ample evidence of the defendant's intent to defraud and misuse investor funds.

  • October 17, 2025

    Nursing Exec Denied New Trial On Wage-Fixing Claims

    A Nevada federal judge has denied a new trial to a nursing executive convicted of wage-fixing conspiracy and wire fraud after he claimed the U.S. Department of Justice misled the jury about sweetheart terms of a cooperation deal with another company.

  • October 17, 2025

    Fragrance Co. Cuts $26M 'Icebreaker' Deal In Price-Fixing Suit

    A proposed class of direct purchasers asked a New Jersey federal judge Friday to preliminarily sign off on International Flavors and Fragrances Inc.'s $26 million settlement, the first "icebreaker" deal cut in sprawling price-fixing antitrust litigation against four major fragrance ingredient makers.

  • October 17, 2025

    BNP Must Pay $20M To 3 Sudanese Refugees, NY Jury Finds

    A New York federal jury Friday returned a landmark $20 million verdict against French bank BNP Paribas, finding the bank liable for its role enabling the genocide former Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir committed against Black African civilians in Sudan.

  • October 17, 2025

    Chamber Urges 5th Circ. To Rehear Ex-Bank CEO's FDIC Case

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other libertarian advocacy groups urged the Fifth Circuit on Friday to reconsider a panel ruling shielding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s in-house courts from a constitutional challenge, arguing the decision defies U.S. Supreme Court precedent and leaves bank officials "trapped in the bureaucratic machinery" of juryless agency prosecutions.

  • October 17, 2025

    Justices Urged To Review Circ. Split Over SEC Disgorgement

    A man accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of participating in a $6 million pump-and-dump scheme is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to review a circuit split that he says has created "intolerable confusion" over when the agency can collect disgorgement.

  • October 17, 2025

    Insys Ex-CEO Babich Agrees To $30M Trustee Deal In Del.

    Former Insys Therapeutics CEO Michael Babich has consented to a $30 million settlement amid a bankruptcy trustee's efforts to recover tens of millions in damages from company officials tied to Insys' aggressive marketing of the opioid painkiller Subsys, according to a Delaware Court of Chancery settlement filed early on Friday.

  • October 17, 2025

    Investment Firm Founder Indicted On Alleged $500M Scheme

    The co-founder of two Florida-based investment firms has been accused by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding lenders and investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars with false representations about the firms' financial success and assets.

  • October 17, 2025

    Ex-Official Enforced Fee Deal With Job Threat, Jury Hears

    Connecticut school construction director Kosta Diamantis on Friday admitted during cross-examination that he threatened to yank a masonry subcontractor from jobs in Tolland and Hartford if it didn't pay him what he claimed was a legitimate, agreed-upon $70,000 fee for lining up an introduction to a general contractor.

  • October 17, 2025

    Trump Commutes Ex-Rep. Santos' 7-Year Fraud Sentence

    President Donald Trump announced on social media Friday that he has commuted the seven-year prison sentence of former U.S. Rep. George Santos, who admitted to falsely inflating fundraising reports to qualify for National Republican Congressional Committee funding during the 2022 election.

  • October 17, 2025

    Arson, Stalking Claims Not Defamatory, NC Biz Court Rules

    A Virginia couple has lost their bid for a pretrial win on claims their former friends defamed them online, with a North Carolina Business Court judge finding the posts weren't defamatory and their identities couldn't otherwise be easily deduced.

  • October 17, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says No Duty To Inform Criminal Clients Of Liability

    The Third Circuit in a precedential ruling Friday declined to apply immigration precedent concerning counsel's obligation to advise their criminal defendant clients about deportation risks associated with prosecutions to the civil setting, holding that the standard applies only in highly specific circumstances.

  • October 17, 2025

    Phoenix Suns Minority Owners End Suit, Shift To Countersuit

    Minority owners of the NBA's Phoenix Suns on Friday dropped their Delaware Court of Chancery lawsuit seeking to obtain certain company documents, but said they are now focused on asserting counterclaims of mismanagement and misconduct in a suit filed earlier this week by majority owner Mat Ishbia.

  • October 17, 2025

    Bolton Pleads Not Guilty To Mishandling Documents

    Former National Security Advisor John Bolton pled not guilty to charges that he illegally retained and shared classified national defense information Friday, a day after federal prosecutors unsealed an 18-count indictment against the former appointee of President Donald Trump who has become a critic of his administration since.

  • October 17, 2025

    Federal Courts To Scale Back Operations Amid Shutdown

    The federal court system has run out of money and will scale back operations beginning Monday as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, possibly leading to case delays.

  • October 17, 2025

    Saul Ewing Expands In Pittsburgh With 2 Attorneys

    A former assistant U.S. attorney in Michigan and an attorney with more than 20 years of experience advising clients on trusts and estates matters have recently moved their practices to Saul Ewing LLP's Pittsburgh office.

  • October 17, 2025

    Feds Say Housing Activist Used Homeless For Medicaid Fraud

    Federal prosecutors in North Carolina have accused a Charlotte housing advocate of using the Medicaid beneficiary numbers of unhoused individuals to orchestrate a multimillion-dollar fraud on the government, court records show.

  • October 17, 2025

    Ark. Trust 'Trying To Determine' What NY Attys Did With $20M

    A New York law group is facing allegations that it misappropriated $20 million that was meant to facilitate a business loan transaction on behalf of an Arkansas trust.

Expert Analysis

  • How Justices' Ruling Limits Options To Challenge DHS Orders

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    In Riley v. Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that a 30-day deadline for challenging deportation orders begins when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issues a final administrative review order, opening the door for the government to effectively bar circuit court review in future similar cases, says Kevin Gregg at Kurzban Kurzban.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • DOJ Enforcement Trends To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

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    Recent investigations, settlements and a declination to prosecute suggest that controlling the flow of goods into and out of the country, and redressing what the administration sees as reverse discrimination, are likely to be at the forefront of the U.S. Department of Justice's enforcement agenda the rest of this year, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Federal Regs Order May Spell Harsher FDCA Enforcement

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    A recent executive order aimed at reducing criminal prosecutions of those who unknowingly violate complex federal regulations may actually lead to more aggressive felony indictments under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, but companies and executives can mitigate risks by following several key principals, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • DOJ's 1st M&A Declination Shows Value Of Self-Disclosures

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent decision not to charge private equity firm White Deer Management — the first such declination under an M&A safe harbor policy announced last year — signals that even in high-priority national security matters, the DOJ looks highly upon voluntary self-disclosures, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • 3rd-Party Audit Tactics To Improve Export Control Compliance

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    Companies should take a strategic approach to third-party audits in response to the Trump administration's ramp-up of export control enforcement with steps that strengthen their ability to identify the control weaknesses of distributors, dealers and resellers, say Michael Huneke at Hughes Hubbard, and John Rademacher and Abby Williams at Secretariat Advisors.

  • Evading DOJ Crosshairs As Data Security Open Season Starts

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice begins enforcing its new data security program — aimed at preventing foreign adversaries from accessing government-related and personal sensitive data — U.S. companies will need to understand the program’s contours and potential pitfalls to avoid potential civil liability or criminal scrutiny, say attorneys at Cohen & Gresser.

  • How Trump Admin Treasury Policies Are Reaching Banks

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    The Treasury Department has emerged as an important facilitator of the Trump administration's financial policies affecting banks, which are now facing deregulation domestically and the use of international economic authorities in cross-border trade and investment, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • A Look At DOJ's Dropped Case Against Early Crypto Operator

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    The prosecution of an early crypto exchange operator over alleged unlicensed money transmission was recently dropped in Indiana federal court, showcasing that the U.S. Justice Department may be limiting the types of enforcement cases it will bring against digital asset firms, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Policy Shifts Bring New Anti-Money Laundering Challenges

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    In the second half of 2025, the U.S. anti-money laundering regulatory landscape is poised for decisive shifts in enforcement priorities, compliance expectations and legislative developments — so investment advisers and other financial institutions should take steps to prepare for potential new obligations and areas of risk, say attorneys at Linklaters.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits

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    Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

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