White Collar

  • September 25, 2025

    'Blessings Thru Crypto' Couple Must Pay $6.8M In CFTC Case

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday announced that two Tennessee residents have been ordered to pay over $6.8 million to end the commission's claims they defrauded more than 100 people with a multimillion-dollar commodity pool.

  • September 25, 2025

    Judge Affirms Fla. Studio Didn't Register Movie Securities

    A Florida federal judge affirmed a ruling that a movie studio company sold $1.2 million in unregistered securities purportedly using blockchain technology to license motion picture rights, saying he wasn't convinced the company qualified for an exemption. 

  • September 25, 2025

    Chicago Man Forged Signatures Of Federal Judges, Feds Say

    A Chicago man has been indicted for forging the signatures of two Illinois federal judges on various court filings in an attempt to get around an order restricting his ability to file new cases, according to an announcement made by the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday.

  • September 25, 2025

    Imprisoned Pearl Token Founder Hit With Default In SEC Suit

    The incarcerated founder of an unregistered crypto offering known as Pearl tokens has been barred from issuing, offering or selling securities after failing to respond to parallel U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims.

  • September 25, 2025

    FTC, 19 States Halt Cancer Charity Scheme

    A car donation charity that raised more than $45 million meant for breast cancer screenings agreed Thursday to an injunction barring future charity fundraising to end an enforcement action by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of 19 states over misappropriated donation funds.

  • September 25, 2025

    Ex-FTE CEO Gets 12 Years For $13.6M Accounting Fraud

    The former chairman and CEO of FTE Networks Inc. on Thursday was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a multifaceted $13.6 million ploy to conceal the telecommunications and real estate company's shaky financial condition and embezzle company funds.

  • September 25, 2025

    SEC's $1.2M Deal In EB-5 Fraud Case Gets Judge's OK

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that a Nevada federal court has ordered a real estate developer and one of her companies to pay over $1.2 million to settle the agency's claims that they used $10 million raised from overseas investors hoping to immigrate to the U.S. to instead pay down an unrelated project loan.

  • September 25, 2025

    Convicted Atty Lacks Moral Fitness, Ethics Panel Says

    Connecticut's statewide grievance committee says an attorney convicted 10 years ago for filing false federal tax returns doesn't have the moral character to return to the legal profession.

  • September 25, 2025

    Flagstar Seeks Instant Win In Ex-Live Well VP Fraud Case

    Flagstar Bank has urged a Michigan federal judge to grant it an early win against a former executive of the now-bankrupt Live Well for his role in a scheme to defraud lenders by inflating the value of bonds, saying because the executive already pled guilty to securities fraud, he cannot now deny liability in the bank's civil case.

  • September 25, 2025

    Atty's 'Horrible' Mistake Rooted In Firm Biz, NJ Justices Hear

    Former Sacks Weston attorney Scott Diamond's counsel urged the New Jersey Supreme Court on Thursday to refrain from disbarring him for fraudulently resolving cases behind his former firm's back, arguing during a hearing that his actions stemmed from a "bona fide" business dispute.

  • September 25, 2025

    'Jailhouse Lawyer' Gets 16½ Years For Defrauding Inmates

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced a recidivist fraudster to 16½ years in prison Thursday, saying the "jailhouse lawyer" cheated inmates out of at least $550,000 by getting them to pay for unauthorized legal filings and calling him an "incorrigible" con man.

  • September 25, 2025

    Bondi Faces Key 'Test' As Trump Orders Prosecutions

    Attorney General Pam Bondi has reached a crossroads less than eight months into her tenure as she faces an extraordinary directive from President Donald Trump to wield the U.S. Department of Justice against his political enemies.

  • September 24, 2025

    SEC Gets $7M Default Insider Trading Win Against UK Trader

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday ordered a British-Lebanese trader to pay over $7.7 million, stemming from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's insider trading allegations, months after the defendant avoided extradition from the U.K. on parallel criminal charges.

  • September 24, 2025

    Texas Banker Says Co.'s $30M Fraud Suit Must Be Arbitrated

    A South African company's lawsuit accusing a Texas family, a wealth manager and Frost Bank of orchestrating a $30 million embezzlement and money laundering scheme belongs in arbitration, the defendants have told a Fort Worth federal judge.

  • September 24, 2025

    Equity Trader Gets 2 Months For Insider Trading

    A Connecticut-based former head of equities trading for an investment firm who copped to insider trading in June has been sentenced to two months in prison and ordered to pay more than $331,000.

  • September 24, 2025

    FINRA To Nix Minimum Equity Requirement For Day Traders

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Wednesday that its board approved changes to its rules for so-called pattern day trading that would remove a minimum equity requirement for such traders.

  • September 24, 2025

    Execs Breached Danish Deal In $2B Tax Case, Court Says

    Three men claiming to be pension plan executives who struck a civil settlement with the Danish taxing authority over their role in a $2 billion tax fraud scheme breached their settlement agreement, a New York federal court found, saying the men had not paid back the amount they promised.

  • September 24, 2025

    Merrill Lynch Accuses Ex-Staff, Schwab, Investor Of IP Theft

    Merrill Lynch has filed a trade secrets lawsuit against a dozen former employees, Charles Schwab and Dynasty Financial Partners, alleging the defendants conspired to start a new independent financial advisory firm with Merrill's staff and confidential information.

  • September 24, 2025

    DOJ Likely Crossed Line With Mangione Remarks, Judge Says

    Top officials at the U.S. Department of Justice are in hot water for linking alleged insurance CEO killer Luigi Mangione to left-wing terrorism and potentially violating his right to a fair trial, a New York federal judge said Wednesday as she threatened sanctions for future violations.

  • September 24, 2025

    Former US Attorney To Join Harter Secrest In Buffalo

    The former U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York is making the move to private practice next month at Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • September 24, 2025

    NYC Housing Bribe Case Winding Down As Another Trial Set

    A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday teed up a trial for a Bronx assistant public housing superintendent accused of taking $14,000 in bribes, as an anti-corruption sweep targeting 70 workers at the New York City Housing Authority inched toward an end.

  • September 24, 2025

    Pa. Man Gets 4 Years In Prison For $72M Fraud

    A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to four years behind bars for scamming two lenders out of $72 million that he said would go toward buying insurance companies, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia.

  • September 24, 2025

    Smoke Shop Avoids Sanctions But Must Actually Talk To Tribe

    Retailers accused by the Cayuga Nation of running an unauthorized cannabis shop won't be sanctioned for allegedly failing to turn over daily sales records, which they had destroyed for years, but a New York federal court has ordered them to produce those records going forward and is requiring both sides to confer in good faith "by actually speaking to each other."

  • September 23, 2025

    Judiciary Dems Demand Feds Explain 'Border Czar' Probe

    Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Tuesday they are looking into the Trump administration's alleged closure of a U.S. Department of Justice bribery investigation of White House "border czar" Thomas Homan, following recent news reports that he accepted $50,000 from an undercover FBI agent.

  • September 23, 2025

    FBI Agent's Firing Didn't Violate 1st Amendment, Court Rules

    A D.C. federal judge granted the U.S. government a summary judgment win Tuesday over a former FBI agent who said he was wrongly fired after his text messages disparaging President Donald Trump became public, agreeing with the agency that avoiding the appearance of bias outweighed other concerns.

Expert Analysis

  • Congress Crypto Movement Could Bring CFTC 'Clarity' At Last

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    The Clarity Act's arrival at the House floor during "Crypto Week" in Congress demonstrates enduring bipartisan support for legislation addressing digital assets and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's important role in a future regulatory structure, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Practical Implications Of SEC's New Crypto Staking Guidance

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent staff guidance that protocol staking does not constitute securities offerings provides a workable compliance blueprint for crypto developers, validators and custodial platforms willing to keep staking strictly limited to protocol-driven rewards, say attorneys at Cahill.

  • DOJ Actions Signal Rising Enforcement Risk For Health Cos.

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's announcement of a new False Claims Act working group, together with the largest healthcare fraud takedown in history, underscore the importance of sophisticated compliance programs that align with the DOJ's data-driven approach, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • New FCPA Guidance May Flip The Whistleblowing Script

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines lay out a new incentive structure that may put multinational U.S.-based companies in an unusual offensive whistleblowing position, potentially spurring them to conduct external investigations of their foreign rivals, says Markus Funk at Perkins Coie.

  • How To Strengthen A Case By Mastering Expert Witness Prep

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    A well-prepared expert witness can bolster a case's credibility with persuasive qualifications, compelling voir dire responses and concise testimony that can withstand cross-examination, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Spotlight On Medicare Marketing Practices Enforcement Trend

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    Recent U.S. Department of Justice actions, including its recent Medicare kickback allegations in Shea v. eHealth, demonstrate increasing enforcement scrutiny on Medicare Advantage marketing practices, say Ellen London at London & Naor, Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz and Erica Hitchings at the Whistleblower Law Collaborative.

  • New FCPA Guidance Creates 5 Compliance Imperatives

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    In light of new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines that mark a fundamental shift in enforcement priorities, companies should consider several specific steps to ensure compliance, from enhanced due diligence to robust whistleblower protections, says Andrew Wirmani at Reese Marketos.

  • 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.

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