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White Collar
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April 15, 2024
Trump Tells Justices Impeachment Required For Prosecution
Former President Donald Trump told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the "inevitably and unavoidably" political nature of prosecuting a former president requires input from Congress, arguing the U.S. Constitution's framers carefully wrote the impeachment clause to act as an initial hurdle for criminal prosecutions.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Wary Of Strict Limit On Malicious Prosecution Cases
Several U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared open Monday to the idea that a charge made without probable cause can be grounds for a malicious prosecution civil suit even if another charge with valid probable cause accompanied it, but without a clear consensus on a precise boundary.
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April 15, 2024
FTX Liquidators Describe Operating Blindly In Initial Days
The U.S. liquidator for collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX told attendees at the OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, the case was unlike any other he'd handled as the company had "no set of books," forcing both onshore and offshore liquidators to scramble to track down assets.
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April 15, 2024
'Pig Butchering' Scams' Human Toll Has Experts Alarmed
Financial institutions, cryptocurrency exchanges and social media companies need to do more to stem a growing tide of so-called pig butchering scams, which experts at the OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami said Monday are wreaking havoc on victims while funding a large human trafficking operation.
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April 15, 2024
Calif. Cannabis Co. Stiiizy Sued Over Delta-8 Products
California cannabis giant Stiiizy has been accused of selling products which were touted as federally compliant hemp wares but purportedly had high enough levels of psychoactive THC to qualify as marijuana products, according to a proposed class action in Illinois federal court.
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April 15, 2024
Allstate Asks Court To Order Takedown Of 'Smear' Posts
Allstate asked a Colorado federal judge to order a former independent contractor to remove false statements on his website accusing the insurer of selling customers' personal information to criminals, arguing it has been irreparably injured and that the defendant has signaled he has no plans to stop his smear campaign.
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April 15, 2024
Solar Power Co. Accuses Ex-Insider Of Building, Selling Rival
Delaware-chartered solar energy venture Volt Energy Utility LLC has sued a former top officer in Chancery Court, alleging that while employed by Volt, she secretly launched a competing company, contacted Volt's lenders and customers and then sold the new business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. for $216 million.
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April 15, 2024
Coinbase Wants 2nd Circ. To Weigh Crypto's Howey Question
Crypto exchange Coinbase has asked a Manhattan federal judge to send the question of whether digital assets meet the definition of investment contracts to the Second Circuit, challenging a March order that found the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had adequately pled that the platform offered securities.
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April 15, 2024
Baltimore Taps DiCello Levitt, Saltz Mongeluzzi For Key Bridge
The city of Baltimore announced Monday it has hired DiCello Levitt and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky PC as it plans legal action against those responsible for a container ship destroying the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, the same day FBI agents boarded the ship as part of a criminal investigation.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Suggest Bribery Law Could Criminalize Routine Gifts
U.S. Supreme Court justices pressed the federal government Monday to specify what kinds of rewards fall under a bribery statute frequently used in public corruption prosecutions and why they should be considered graft, voicing concerns that ordinary people could face hefty prison time for routine gift-giving.
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April 15, 2024
Feds Say $3.5M 'Cryptojacking' Scam Targeted Cloud Services
A Nebraska man defrauded two cloud computing services of $3.5 million and used the proceeds to mine an additional $1 million in cryptocurrency, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
'Magician' Tax Preparer Arrested On $100M Fraud Charges
The owner of a New York tax preparation business who was known as "the magician" was arrested Monday on charges that he caused more than $100 million in tax losses to the government over a decade, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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April 15, 2024
Feds Seek Prison For Group That Invaded Abortion Clinic
Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences for six anti-abortion activists convicted of storming a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic, including a six-year term for the alleged "criminal mastermind" behind this and other blockades.
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April 15, 2024
Prosecutor Says Trump Can't Keep Punting Docs Deadlines
The special counsel prosecuting former President Donald Trump over the alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate has asked a Florida federal judge to deny Trump's request for another delay, arguing Trump should not be able to use a trial against him in New York to further delay the proceeding.
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April 15, 2024
Feds Flag DNA, Bank Names On Menendez Cash Bundles
Federal prosecutors pursuing bribery charges against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez have countered his bid to scrap evidence — such as gold bars and $10,000 cash bundles — from his upcoming trial, telling a New York federal judge that fingerprints, DNA and currency straps from banks where Menendez and his wife don't have accounts derail his claim that the money comes from personal savings.
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April 15, 2024
Senators Demand Info On CFTC Chats With Bankman-Fried
Two U.S. senators have asked the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's chair to detail all of his communications and meetings with convicted FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
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April 15, 2024
9th Circ. To Hear Hunter Biden Appeal In Criminal Tax Case
The Ninth Circuit will hear Hunter Biden's argument that a California federal judge wrongly rejected requests by his defense team to toss a criminal tax case that Biden has claimed is politically motivated and vindictive, according to a notice filed Monday.
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April 15, 2024
'Rust' Armorer Gets 18 Mos. For On-Set Shooting Death
A New Mexico judge gave "Rust" film armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed the maximum 18-month prison sentence Monday for involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the low-budget Western starring actor-producer Alec Baldwin, who faces trial on the same charge this summer.
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April 15, 2024
Conn. Atty Aided $1.4M Transfer Scam, Developer Says
Connecticut attorney Carole W. Briggs "intentionally orchestrated and participated in" a business email compromise scam that stole more than $1.4 million from a New Jersey-based real estate development company last year, according to a civil lawsuit in federal court.
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April 15, 2024
Sotomayor, Jackson Dissent As Court Rejects Capital Cases
In a pair of dissents, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor on Monday broke with a majority of their colleagues on the U.S. Supreme Court who declined to hear two death penalty cases.
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April 15, 2024
Justice Thomas Misses Monday's Supreme Court Arguments
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was absent Monday for oral arguments examining disputes over whether accepting illegal gratuities without a quid pro quo is prohibited under a federal bribery statute and what test courts should apply when determining whether malicious prosecution claims can proceed.
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April 15, 2024
Stressed About The Trump Trial? Imagine How The Attys Feel
A trial-of-the-century moment like Donald Trump's New York criminal case heaps singular attention and pressure on the lawyers involved — and a commensurate need for smart stress relief tactics during months of prep, lawyers who have taken on landmark cases say.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Won't Review Ex-NYC Union Head's Bribery Rap
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the appeal of a former New York City union president who was convicted of taking bribes from now-defunct hedge fund Platinum Partners, rejecting a petition that argued his attorney failed to tell him about the trial judge's conflicts of interest.
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April 15, 2024
Trump Accused Of Witness Threats As Jury Selection Begins
The Manhattan district attorney's office on Monday asked the judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money trial to find Trump in contempt for flouting the court's gag order barring witness intimidation, on day one of jury selection in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
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April 12, 2024
Judge Refuses To Throw Out Hunter Biden's Gun Indictment
A Delaware federal judge has rejected Hunter Biden's various attempts to duck felony firearm charges ahead of a trial, in particular slamming his contention that he is being selectively prosecuted because he's the president's son as "nonsensical" and "all speculation."
Expert Analysis
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Bank Secrecy Act Lessons For Casinos After DOJ Settlements
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlements with the MGM Grand and Cosmopolitan casinos, resolving an investigation into alleged violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, signal a shift in the DOJ's enforcement focus and provide insight into potential pitfalls in anti-money laundering compliance programs, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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High Court Forfeiture Case Again Pits Text Against Purpose
In oral arguments Tuesday in McIntosh v. U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether a federal court can impose asset forfeiture on a defendant even if it doesn’t comply with timing rules, which may affect the broader interpretation of procedural deadlines — and tees up the latest battle between textualism and purposivism, say Anden Chow and Christian Bale at MoloLamken.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Cos. Must Know How NY, Federal LLC Disclosure Laws Differ
Though New York state's new LLC Transparency Act and the federal Corporate Transparency Act impose similar beneficial owner reporting obligations on limited liability companies, New York LLCs should study the important differences between the laws to ensure they are prepared to comply with both, say Abram Ellis, Olenka Burghardt and Jane Jho at Simpson Thacher.
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More Than Drugs At Stake In High Court's 'Blind Mule' Case
The U.S. Supreme Court's eventual decision in Diaz v. U.S., evaluating whether expert witnesses may testify that most defendants caught with drugs at the border know they are transporting drugs, could have implications for prosecuting everything from complex financial crimes to gun and drug cases, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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A Refresher On Witness Testimony In 3 Key Settings
The recent controversy over congressional testimony from university presidents about antisemitism on campus serves as a reminder to attorneys about what to emphasize and avoid when preparing witnesses to testify before Congress, and how this venue differs from grand jury and trial proceedings, say Jack Sharman and Tyler Yarbrough at Lightfoot Franklin.
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A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise
After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.
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Preparing For DOJ's Data Analytics Push In FCPA Cases
After the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent announcement that it will leverage data analytics in Foreign Corrupt Practice Act investigations and prosecutions, companies will need to develop a compliance strategy that likewise implements data analytics to get ahead of enforcement risks, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
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Considering The Logical Extremes Of Your Legal Argument
Recent oral arguments in the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump highlighted the age-old technique of extending an argument to its logical limit — a principle that is still important for attorneys to consider in preparing their cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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How High Court SEC Case Could Affect The ITC
While the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy will likely spare the U.S. International Trade Commission from major operative changes, the ITC’s ability to issue penalties for violations of its orders may change, say Gwendolyn Tawresey and Ryan Deck at Troutman Pepper.
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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.