White Collar

  • December 10, 2025

    Fund Founder Charged With $42M Fraud, SEC Obstruction

    A Canadian citizen was arrested Wednesday in England and indicted on charges that he fraudulently raised more than $42 million from investors he courted on the social media platform Discord and elsewhere, and separately misled lenders in giving him more than $800,000 in credit.

  • December 10, 2025

    Trader Admits To Role In $350M Investment Fraud

    A trader admitted to his role in defrauding dozens of investors out of more than $350 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • December 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Hints $166M Fight​​​​​​​ Could Create Circuit Split

    In questioning counsel for an insolvent Dutch insurance company trying to confirm a $166 million arbitral award against convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, two Fourth Circuit judges quipped the insurer likely wants to avoid a circuit split over interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act and keep the case out of the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • December 10, 2025

    7th Circ. Upholds Tax Conviction Of DHS Special Agent

    A jury relied on enough evidence to convict a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent of tax crimes related to his secret dealings with drug dealers, the Seventh Circuit said Wednesday, rejecting his claim that proof of his corruption was insufficient.

  • December 10, 2025

    Guilty Budget Official's Legal Bill Battle Sent To Magistrate

    A Connecticut federal judge on Wednesday tapped a magistrate judge to dig into an apparent billing dispute between former state budget official Konstantinos Diamantis and his criminal defense attorney, but he refused to delay a looming bribery trial until he decides whether to allow the lawyer to withdraw.

  • December 10, 2025

    Regulate AI With Existing Regs, Financial Industry Lobby Says

    The Financial Services Institute on Wednesday recommended that regulators apply existing rules and standards to artificial intelligence, saying they should use new rules only when AI brings "genuinely new issues or significantly alters existing risks."

  • December 10, 2025

    Wells Fargo Says It Didn't Know Ex-Atty Stole From Clients

    Wells Fargo is seeking to shed claims in Texas federal court alleging it turned a blind eye to a convicted former attorney's misuse of client funds held in accounts at the bank, arguing that the victims of the lawyer's fraud failed to show it knew of the misconduct.

  • December 10, 2025

    UScellular Can't Call 'Checkmate' In Fraud Suit, Justices Told

    Two whistleblowers told the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday that UScellular cannot escape claims of spectrum auction fraud by arguing they had "pleaded themselves out of court" at an earlier stage of the False Claims Act suit.

  • December 10, 2025

    2nd Circ. Urged To Nix Yacht, $37M Escrow From Guo Ch. 11

    The daughter of Chinese exile Miles Guo on Wednesday asked the Second Circuit to reverse bankruptcy and district court decisions awarding a yacht and a $37 million support account to her father's Chapter 11 estate, saying those courts improperly relied upon a state court decision when issuing quick wins.

  • December 10, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Accused Of Botching Investor Fraud Recovery

    New Jersey firm Beattie Padovano LLC has been sued in state court by a man accusing it of legal malpractice that led to his inability to reclaim nearly $800,000 he says he lost in an investor fraud scheme perpetrated by former frequent CNBC guest James Arthur McDonald Jr.

  • December 10, 2025

    Judge Bove Faces Complaint Over Trump Rally Attendance

    U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove, who previously served as President Donald Trump's personal defense attorney and a top official at the U.S. Department of Justice, has been hit with a judicial misconduct complaint for his appearance at a Trump event on Tuesday night.

  • December 10, 2025

    MVP: Simpson Thacher's Jeff Knox

    Jeff Knox, co-managing partner of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP's Washington, D.C., office and co-head of the government and internal investigations practice, defended an individual client from a yearslong financial investigation and litigation this year, and resolved matters for clients including Deutsche Bank and the Dutch energy-trading firm Vitol, earning him a spot among the 2025 Law360 White Collar MVPs.

  • December 10, 2025

    McIver's Immunity Disputed In Detention Center Assault Case

    Federal prosecutors asked a New Jersey federal judge to maintain all charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who was accused in an indictment of assaulting federal officers outside an immigration detention center during a scrum in which the mayor of Newark was arrested in May.

  • December 10, 2025

    Hospital Nonprofit's Ex-COO Gets 80 Months For $7M Fraud

    A Florida federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the former chief operating officer of the fundraising arm for a taxpayer-funded Miami health system to more than six years in prison for embezzling $6.9 million through a scheme in which she received kickbacks after submitting false vendor invoices.

  • December 10, 2025

    Feds Seek 10 Years For Ex-Harvard Morgue Manager

    Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania have recommended that the court impose a 10-year prison sentence for former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge following his admission to stealing and selling body parts from cadavers donated to the school for scientific research.

  • December 10, 2025

    Magistrate Backs FinCEN Rules In All-Cash Real Estate Deals

    A magistrate judge in Florida federal court rejected arguments from a title insurance company in upholding a U.S. Department of Treasury rule establishing new reporting requirements for all-cash residential real estate transactions as a means of combating financial crime.

  • December 10, 2025

    Ill. Jury Convicts Ex-Police Chief Of Taking, Covering Bribe

    Federal jurors in Chicago convicted a former suburban police chief Wednesday of accepting a $10,000 cash bribe and splitting the money with a former municipal employee before trying years later to cover the payment up as a loan.

  • December 10, 2025

    Jack Smith To Launch Firm With Willkie Partner, 2 Ex-Deputies

    Jack Smith, the former Justice Department special counsel appointed to investigate President Donald Trump, is set to launch his own firm alongside two of his former top deputies and the co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP's investigations and enforcement practice.

  • December 10, 2025

    Wanted: Temporary US Attorney, No Experience Needed

    Frustrated by a string of court rulings disqualifying several of his U.S. attorney picks, President Donald Trump lamented recently that he might "just have to keep appointing people for three months and then just appoint another one, another one." Experts say the idea raises legal and practical issues.

  • December 09, 2025

    Mozaic CEO Charged With Duping Investor Out Of $20M

    The chief executive officer of an artificial intelligence-powered payments app startup conspired to defraud a Boston private equity firm out of $20 million through a scheme involving fake financial documents and fake customers, a newly unsealed indictment filed in Massachusetts federal court alleges.

  • December 09, 2025

    DOJ Gets OK To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Docs In NY Case

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday secured a Manhattan federal judge's permission to unseal grand jury materials related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, following a new law passed by Congress that requires the agency to release its files on the late sex offender.

  • December 09, 2025

    Crypto Co. Paxful To Pay $4M For Money Laundering Failures

    Paxful Holdings will pay $4 million over claims it failed to enforce anti-money laundering policies on its now-defunct, peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange that allegedly facilitated illicit transactions involving funds derived from criminal activity, including prostitution and distribution of child sex abuse material, according to a plea agreement filed Monday in California federal court. 

  • December 09, 2025

    Ex-NY Gov. Aide 'All About The Money,' FARA Jury Hears

    A Brooklyn federal prosecutor on Tuesday told jurors that a top former aide to two New York governors raked in millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for secretly working on behalf of China's government, saying she betrayed New Yorkers to enrich herself and her husband.

  • December 09, 2025

    Nvidia Chips Sent To China In 'Smuggling Network,' DOJ Says

    The U.S. has arrested two businessmen for their alleged roles in a scheme to smuggle Nvidia chips to China, while another businessman pled guilty to smuggling the AI tech company's chips, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.

  • December 09, 2025

    DOJ Says It Could Indict Comey Again

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it may once again seek charges against ex-FBI Director James Comey, asking a D.C. federal judge to dissolve a temporary restraining order that bars prosecutors from using evidence seized from Comey's former attorney.

Expert Analysis

  • Who Will Regulate Insider Trading In Prediction Markets?

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    The possibilities for insider trading have greatly expanded in the brave new world of prediction markets, and both the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. Department of Justice could bring enforcement actions in the space, so businesses should revisit their insider trading and confidential information policies, say attorneys at Fenwick.

  • Identifying The Sources And Impacts Of Juror Contamination

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    Jury contamination can be pervasive, so it is important that trial teams be able to spot its sources and take specific mitigation steps, says consultant Clint Townson.

  • Key NY State Grand Jury Rules Can Shape Defense Strategy

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    As illustrated by recent cases, New York state's grand jury rules are more favorable than their federal counterparts, offering a genuine opportunity in some cases for a white collar criminal defendant to defeat or meaningfully reduce charges that a prosecutor seeks to bring, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • Federal Debanking Scrutiny Prompts Compliance Questions

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    Recent U.S. Small Business Administration guidance sets forth requirements for preventing so-called politicized debanking and specific additional instructions for small lenders, but falls short on clarity for larger institutions, leaving lenders of all sizes with questions as they navigate this unique compliance challenge, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SEC's No-Action Relief Could Dramatically Alter Retail Voting

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently cleared the way for ExxonMobil to institute a novel change in retail shareholder voting that could greatly increase voter turnout, granting no-action relief that represents an effective and meaningful step toward modernizing the shareholder voting process and the much-needed democratization of retail investors, say attorneys at Cozen.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • 4 Strategies To Ensure Courts Calculate Restitution Correctly

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    Recent reversals of restitution orders across the federal appeals courts indicate that some lower courts are misapplying fundamental restitution principles, so defense attorneys should consider a few ways to vigilantly press these issues with the sentencing judge, says Wesley Gorman at Comber Miller.

  • How Calif. Law Cracks Down On Algorithmic Price-Fixing

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws this month significantly expanding state antitrust enforcement and civil and criminal penalties for the use or distribution of shared pricing algorithms, as the U.S. Department of Justice has recently wielded the Sherman Act to challenge algorithmic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Iran Sanctions Snapback Raises Global Compliance Risks

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    ​The reimplementation of U.N. sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear program​, under a Security Council resolution​'s snapback mechanism, and​ related actions in Europe and the U.K., may change U.S. due diligence expectations and enforcement policies, particularly as they apply to non-U.S. businesses that do business with Iran, says John Sandage at Berliner Corcoran.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • What Cross-Border Task Force Says About SEC's Priorities

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    The formation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cross-border task force, focused on investigating U.S. federal securities law violations overseas, underscores Chairman Paul Atkins' prioritization of classic fraud schemes, particularly involving foreign entities, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • Opinion

    DOJ's Tracing Rule For Pandemic Loan Fraud Is Untenable

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    In conducting investigations related to COVID-19 relief fraud, the government's assertion that loan proceeds are nonfungible and had to have been segregated from other funds is unsupported by underlying legislation, precedent or the language establishing similar federal relief programs, say Sharon McCarthy, Jay Nanavati and Lasya Ravulapati at Kostelanetz.

  • NY Zelle Suit Highlights Fraud Risks Of Electronic Payments

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    The New York attorney general's recent action against Zelle's parent company, filed several months after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau abandoned a similar suit, demonstrates the fraud risks that electronic payment platforms can present and the need for providers to carefully balance accessibility and consumer protection, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

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