White Collar

  • May 21, 2025

    Tech CEO Duped Investors, Faked Blockchain Deals, Feds Say

    The co-founder and CEO of Amalgam Capital Ventures on Wednesday was charged with defrauding investors in the purported blockchain-based software startup by lying about sky-high revenue projections and partnerships with well-known businesses, including major league sports teams and top payment processing platforms.

  • May 21, 2025

    OCC 'Erred Across The Board,' Ex-Wells Fargo Exec Says

    A former Wells Fargo risk officer has asked the Eighth Circuit to vacate steep sanctions that a top U.S. regulator imposed over her alleged role in the bank's fake accounts scandal, arguing she has been unfairly scapegoated and unconstitutionally prosecuted.

  • May 21, 2025

    Tribes Push To Preserve Challenges To Okla. Prosecutions

    The Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations are dialing up their opposition to two Oklahoma district attorneys' attempts to prosecute tribal citizens for crimes committed in Indian Country, telling a federal court that prior case law makes it "readily apparent" that these state actions can't stand. 

  • May 21, 2025

    CFTC Member Says Enforcement Needs More Transparency

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Christy Goldsmith Romero on Wednesday called on the agency to be more transparent about its enforcement decisions, while laying out the factors she weighs in crediting firms for self-reporting and cooperation.

  • May 21, 2025

    Florida Ex-Hospital Exec Charged In $3.6M Fraud Scheme

    The former chief operating officer of the fundraising arm for a Miami-based health system was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with a scheme to falsify $3.6 million in vendor invoices that funneled more than $1 million in kickbacks paid directly to her, Florida federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Verizon Looks To Break Free Of TracFone Unlocking Condition

    Verizon is once again asking the Federal Communications Commission to let it out of a condition from its takeover of TracFone requiring the carrier to unlock its mobile phones after 60 days.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Con's Gun Case Can't Overcome Immunity, Feds Say

    The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cannot be the targets of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was wrongly denied a firearm purchase despite his four-decades-old marijuana felony being expunged, the government argued, telling a Kansas federal court that both agencies have sovereign immunity on the matter.

  • May 21, 2025

    Girardi's Son-In-Law Was No 'Babe In The Woods,' Feds Say

    The Chicago federal judge presiding over a summer client theft trial against Girardi Keese founder Tom Girardi's son-in-law should not limit the government's case based on positions it took during Girardi's California trial because its positions are consistent, and the cases are charged differently, prosecutors argued Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Atty's Cooperation Deal OK'd In Calif. Debt Firm's Ch. 11

    A California bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a deal allowing a disbarred attorney accused of operating a fraudulent debt relief law firm to admit wrongdoing and provide information about the firm's collapse to a court-appointed trustee in an effort to recoup money for creditors.

  • May 21, 2025

    Reed Smith Grows In Atlanta With Kilpatrick White Collar Pair

    Reed Smith LLP has expanded its Atlanta office with two longtime Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP partners, including the former co-leader of Kilpatrick's government enforcement and investigations team and head of its white collar and investigations practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    SF Law Firms' Ex-CFO Gets 3 Years For Embezzling $1.3M

    A former chief financial officer of two San Francisco law firms was sentenced to just over three years in prison Wednesday for stealing more than $1.3 million from the firms and others, after one firm's founder said the defendant appeared to enjoy "stabbing us all in the back."

  • May 21, 2025

    Payday Lender's Ex-CEO Pleads Guilty In $66M Ponzi Scheme

    The former CEO of a Miami payday loan company pled guilty Wednesday to operating a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say fraudulently raised $66 million from more than 500 investors.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Atty For Slain Journalist Khashoggi Admits Tax Crime

    An attorney who once represented the slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi pled guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting that he withheld $355,000 from the Internal Revenue Service.

  • May 21, 2025

    Distiller Says Ex-Partner, Attys Used RICO Suit To Ruin Him

    A Pennsylvania distiller claims his erstwhile partner in Pittsburgh's Kingfly Spirits launched years of litigation against him designed to ruin his reputation and career, saying in a complaint of his own that the ex-collaborator texted him "game on" before beginning his abusive legal campaign.

  • May 21, 2025

    Democrats Wary of Nominees' Pledge To Honor Court Orders

    Nominees for top roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fended off questions from Democrats on Wednesday about the Trump administration's willingness to defy court orders and pledged that the White House would at least follow rulings of the Supreme Court.

  • May 21, 2025

    Apple Lets Fortnite Back In App Store As Appeal Pends

    Apple has allowed Epic Games to put its popular Fortnite video game back in the App Store, while the sides await a ruling on Apple's bid to pause an injunction mandating additional changes to its policies issued after the court found it had violated a previous order.

  • May 21, 2025

    SafeMoon CEO Convicted Of Looting Crypto Company

    A Brooklyn federal jury on Wednesday quickly found the former CEO of SafeMoon guilty of conspiring to loot over $40 million from the cryptocurrency firm, making him the second former top leader of the once-hot company to be convicted while its founder remains a fugitive.

  • May 21, 2025

    Sports Betting Fraudster Gets 5 Years In Prison

    A Las Vegas man was sentenced Wednesday in Ohio federal court to five years and five months in prison after pleading guilty in a case alleging he used sports betting businesses to bilk $8.5 million from investors for his personal enrichment.

  • May 21, 2025

    Device Maker Who Evaded Tax Gets 2 Years In Prison

    A Florida man who sold millions of dollars worth of medical devices that federal prosecutors said were unproven to work was sentenced to two years in prison for evading taxes and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

  • May 21, 2025

    Apologetic NJ Atty Gets 21 Months For $350K COVID Fraud

    A New Jersey attorney sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Wednesday for claiming he was a business in order to receive nearly $350,000 earmarked for small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic apologized to the court for the "embarrassment" he caused to the legal profession.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Alvarez & Marsal CPA Sentenced To 20 Months In Tax Case

    A former accountant at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal has been sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service over $2 million for willfully not reporting his income and falsifying the returns in his mortgage application, according to a D.C. federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    11th Circ. Lets Man Seek Rare Writ To Fight $21M Restitution

    A former payroll director serving time for defrauding hospitals in an employment tax scheme can challenge his $21 million restitution by pursuing a rare legal remedy, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, saying the fact that he's in custody doesn't make him ineligible to apply.

  • May 21, 2025

    Gov't Violated Court Order With Removals, Judge Says

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday found that the government violated his order requiring due process protections for individuals facing removal to countries where they have no ties and may face harm, after a group of migrants were put on a plane bound for war-torn South Sudan with just hours' notice.

  • May 21, 2025

    Atty Has Bail Revoked For Continuing Embezzlement After Arrest

    A Massachusetts magistrate judge on Wednesday revoked bail for an attorney who pled guilty to embezzling more than $3 million from several companies and two family members with special needs and dementia, after prosecutors said he was still siphoning funds from victims' accounts after being charged.

  • May 21, 2025

    Feds Say Atty Behind Embassy Attack Can't Avoid Restitution

    A Florida attorney who claimed he was unable to pay restitution for felony convictions after he detonated explosives in San Antonio and outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., cannot avoid the $325,000 bill, federal prosecutors told a D.C. federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • Executive Orders Paving Way For New Era Of Crypto Banking

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    Recent executive orders have already significantly affected the day-to-day operations of financial institutions that have an interest in engaging with digital assets, and creating informed strategies now can support institutions as the crypto gates continue to open to the banking industry, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • Justices' False Statement Ruling Curbs Half-Truth Liability

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Thompson v. U.S. decision clarified that a federal statute used to prosecute false statements made to bank regulators only criminalizes outright falsehoods, narrowing prosecutors’ reach and providing defense counsel a stronger basis to challenge indictments of merely misleading statements, says Tamara de Silva at De Silva Law Offices.

  • How Importers Can Minimize FCA Risks Of Tariff Mitigation

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    False Claims Act risks are inherent in many tariff mitigation strategies, making it important for importers to implement best practices to identify and report potential violations of import regulations before they escalate, says Samuel Finkelstein at LMD Trade Law.

  • State Securities Enforcers May Fill A Federal Enforcement Gap

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission appears poised to take a lighter touch under the new administration, but state enforcement efforts are likely to continue unabated, and potentially even increase, particularly with regard to digital assets and ESG disclosures, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Firms Still Have Lateral Market Advantage, But Risks Persist

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the fourth quarter of 2024 shows that we’re in a new, stable era of lateral hiring where firms have the edge, but leaders should proceed cautiously, looking beyond expected revenue and compensation analyses for potential risks, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • What Rodney Hood's OCC Stint Could Mean For Banking

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    Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood's time at the helm of the OCC, while temporary, is likely to feature clarity for financial institutions navigating regulations, the development of fintech innovation, and clearer expectations for counsel advising on related matters, say attorneys at Vedder Price.

  • Opinion

    We Must Allow Judges To Use Their Independent Judgment

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    As two recent cases show, the ability of judges to access their independent judgment crucially enables courts to exercise the discretion needed to reach the right outcome based on the unique facts within the law, says John Siffert at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • 4 Actions For Cos. As SEC Rebrands Cyber Enforcement Units

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    As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signals its changing enforcement priorities by retooling a Biden-era crypto-asset and cybersecurity enforcement unit into a task force against artificial-intelligence-powered hacks and online investing fraud, financial institutions and technology companies should adapt by considering four key points, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Deportation Flights May End Up A Legal And Strategic Error

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    Officials in the Trump administration could face criminal contempt charges if a D.C. judge finds that they flouted his orders last weekend to halt deportation flights to El Salvador, which could ultimately make mass deportations more difficult — and proving noncompliance a self-defeating strategy, says Ethan Greenberg at Anderson Kill.

  • Mitigating The Risk Of Interacting With A Designated Cartel

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    There are steps companies doing business in Latin America should take to mitigate risks associated with the Trump administration's designation of several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and the terrorism statute's material-support provisions, which may render seemingly legitimate transactions criminal, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 4 Key Payments Trends For White Collar Attys

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    As the payments landscape continues to innovate and the new administration looks to expand the role of digital currency in the American economy, white collar practitioners should be aware of several key issues in this space, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Calif. Antitrust Bill Could Alter Enforcement Landscape

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    If enacted, a recently proposed California bill that would strengthen the state’s antitrust law could signal a notable shift in the U.S. enforcement environment, but questions remain about the types of cases the state could pursue, whether other states will follow suit and more, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Series

    Performing Stand-Up Comedy Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether I’m delivering a punchline on stage or a closing argument in court, balancing stand-up comedy performances and my legal career has demonstrated that the keys to success in both endeavors include reading the room, landing the right timing and making an impact, says attorney Rebecca Palmer.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From SEC To BigLaw

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    As I adjusted to the multifaceted workflow of a BigLaw firm after leaving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, working side by side with new colleagues on complex matters proved the fastest way to build a deep rapport and demonstrate my value, says Jennifer Lee at Jenner & Block.

  • What's Old And New In The CFTC's Self-Reporting Advisory

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    Attorneys at Blank Rome analyze the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent advisory that aims to provide clarity on self-reporting violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, and review whether market participants should shift their thinking — or not — when it comes to cooperation with the CFTC.

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