Analysis

In Hush Money Case, Jury May Choose To Keep Silent, Too

By Cara Salvatore

Though Donald Trump's gag order violations have earned him a threat of jail time, First Amendment experts say jurors in the New York case will likely be free to speak their mind afterward if they want to — a dynamic that in rare instances has led to posttrial controversy.

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'Where's Bob?' Nowhere Near Wife's Gold Bars, Jury Hears

By Carla Baranauckas

Sen. Robert Menendez and his future wife weren't living together when an alleged bribery scheme took root six years ago and continued residing mostly apart after they married, he in Washington, D.C., and she in her New Jersey home that had a closet filled with gold bars and cash, jurors heard Wednesday.

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Archegos Ex-Accountant Tells Jury Of 'Vendetta' Inside Fund

By Pete Brush

A key cooperating witness had a "personal vendetta" against a former Archegos executive charged in the government's $36 billion market distortion case, according to testimony Wednesday by an ex-accountant at the fallen fund.

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SolarWinds Says SEC's Cyber Breach Suit Goes Too Far

By Stewart Bishop

SolarWinds Corp. on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing the enterprise software company of deceiving investors about its lax cybersecurity, which left it open to a Russian hacking campaign.

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US Attorney For Colorado Resigns From Post

By Thy Vo

U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Cole Finegan announced Wednesday that he will step down at the end of May to return to the private sector, after serving for more than two years in the role.

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Feds Push To Bar Fox Rothschild Atty's Testimony In Retrial

By Emily Johnson

In a renewed bid, the government has urged a New Jersey federal court to bar a Fox Rothschild LLP partner from testifying as an expert witness in the retrial of a securities fraud case that ended in a dramatic mistrial, arguing that his testimony would constitute an irrelevant and an improper bid to bolster the defense.

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Brothers Stole $25M Of Crypto In 12 Seconds, Feds Say

By Brian Dowling

Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated brothers were charged with orchestrating a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency heist that allowed them to siphon virtual tokens worth around $25 million from Ethereum blockchain users within just 12 seconds, an indictment unsealed Wednesday said.

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NC Insurance Mogul, Adviser Found Guilty Of Bribery — Again

By Hayley Fowler

A federal jury in North Carolina on Wednesday convicted embattled insurance mogul Greg E. Lindberg and his former political consultant on federal bribery charges for the second time after a weeklong trial in Charlotte.

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Water Co. To Pay $8.5M Criminal Fine Over Accounting Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

Wastewater treatment company Evoqua Water Technologies Corp. has reached an $8.5 million agreement with federal prosecutors allowing the company to avoid criminal charges for allegedly inflating the company's revenue by $36 million.

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Ex-FTX Exec Seeks Leniency, Saying He Was Kept In The Dark

By Elliot Weld

A former top FTX official has asked a Manhattan federal judge for a lenient 18-month sentence, saying he was not part of company co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle and was as shocked as everyone else to learn that the crypto exchange was operating a fraud that siphoned billions in customer funds.

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6th Circ. Frees Ex-Ohio Pol Pending Bribery Appeal

By Cara Salvatore

A former member of the Cincinnati City Council convicted of bribery and attempted extortion in connection with a sports betting redevelopment project spearheaded by a former Cincinnati Bengals player can stay out of prison while an appeal plays out, the Sixth Circuit said Wednesday.

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Insurer Wants Payback For Covering Theater Group Theft

By Elizabeth Daley

An insurance company has asked a Connecticut federal court to force a married couple to pay for coverage it granted a theater education group that it says was bilked out of nearly $588,000 by the pair via personal use of the nonprofit's funds.

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Feds Urge Prison For Convicted Baby Formula Fraudster

By Parker Quinlan

Urging the judge to communicate the gravity of white collar crime, federal prosecutors in New York asked Wednesday that a Staten Island man get at least 2.25 years in prison after he pled guilty to forging baby formula prescriptions as part of a scheme to defraud insurers of $1.9 million.

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Masters Employee Cops To Selling $5.3M In Golf Memorabilia

By Elliot Weld

A former employee of Augusta National Golf Club pled guilty Wednesday to stealing $5.3 million worth of memorabilia from the Masters golf tournament and selling it online, including a green jacket belonging to Arnold Palmer.

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DoorDash Inks Deal To End NY AG's Conviction Bias Claims

By Bonnie Eslinger

DoorDash has reached a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James to resolve allegations that the food delivery platform regularly rejected applicants with criminal histories without considering factors such as the nature of the conviction and its bearing on the job sought, the law enforcement official's office announced Wednesday.

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Pardoned NJ Atty Suspended Over Tax, Fraud Convictions

By Jake Maher

A former Gilmore & Monahan PA partner — who was convicted of failing to pay payroll taxes and lying on a loan application, and was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump — has received a two-year suspension from practicing law in New Jersey, though it will be largely offset by a previous suspension he served, according to a Wednesday order. 

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Exec Wants No Jail In Landmark Product Safety Conviction

By Gina Kim

A former Gree USA executive convicted of failing to immediately report defective dehumidifiers known to catch fire, has asked a California federal judge to sentence him to probation and not incarceration, citing several companies that delayed reporting longer than he did and caused greater harm to customers but weren't criminally charged.

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Amid Controversy, Gov. Names Tribal Police Chief As Liaison

By Crystal Owens

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has appointed the former Pine Ridge Reservation chief of police as her administration's new tribal liaison, saying that after he "bravely testified" before a U.S. Senate committee about the cartel presence on tribal lands, he found himself without a job.

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Conn. Strip Club Owner Ran 'Brothel,' Hid $5.7M, Feds Say

By Aaron Keller

The man in charge of a Connecticut strip club and two of his associates operated the business as a brothel, took payments for "commercial sex acts," lied to secure a $150,000 federal COVID-19 relief grant, and hid $5.7 million in income from the IRS, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.

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Russian Gas Ex-CFO Can't Nix $44M FBAR Suit, Judge Rules

By Anna Scott Farrell

The former chief financial officer of a Russian gas company who was sentenced to seven years in prison for hiding money in Swiss banks can't escape the government's civil suit seeking nearly $44 million in reporting penalties, a Florida federal judge ruled Wednesday.

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South African Tax Official Says Data Swaps Too Limited

By Kevin Pinner

South Africa's requests to exchange information on taxpayers with authorities around the world are often denied for criminal investigations of tax crimes, while automatic exchanges sometimes lack the full identifying information of taxpayers, the commissioner of the country's tax agency said Wednesday.

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Trump Taking Criminal Gag Order Appeal To NY's High Court

By Lauren Berg

Former president Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to review a gag order intended to stop him from criticizing witnesses and others involved in his criminal fraud trial, according to a docket entry Wednesday, just a day after a lower appellate court refused to overturn the order.

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Former Sandoz Executive Avoids Prison In Price-Fixing Case

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday approved a request from prosecutors and ex-Sandoz Pharmaceuticals executive Hector Armando Kellum for a one-year probation sentence in the generic drug price-fixing case against him, citing his cooperation with the government's investigation into a larger conspiracy. 

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Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.

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Del. Dispatch: Chancery's Evolving Approach To Caremark

Though Caremark claims are historically the least likely corporate claims to lead to liability, such cases have been met in recent years with increased judicial receptivity — but the Delaware Court of Chancery still expressly discourages the reflexive filing of Caremark claims following corporate mishaps, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

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Series

Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

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BCLP Sues St. Louis Over City Taxes On Partners' Income

By Kevin Penton

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is suing St. Louis, Missouri, after the Midwestern city accused the firm of being delinquent on nearly $275,000 in earnings taxes, contending the municipality unlawfully taxed partners who don't live in the city, according to its court filing.

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Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

By Ryan Boysen

The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

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'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross

By Frank G. Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.

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Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.

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Analysis

Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.

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Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment

By Anna Scott Farrell

Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.

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Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

By Andrew Karpan

An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

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Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.

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Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

By Carla Baranauckas

Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

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Judge Calls Out 'Cancel Culture' In Prof's Suit Against Penn

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge said University of Pennsylvania leaders embraced "cancel culture" when they chastised an anthropology professor for handling remains from the 1985 MOVE house bombing in Philadelphia, allowing the professor's defamation case against the school to move forward.

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$2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'

By Bryan Koenig

Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."

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Roche Freedman Gets Split Ruling On Witnesses In Atty's Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A New York federal judge has issued a split decision on witness testimony in a dispute over the litigation boutique formerly called Roche Freedman.

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11th Circ. Tries To Untangle Aftermath Of Judge's Early Exit

By Ivan Moreno

An Eleventh Circuit panel on Thursday quizzed attorneys for rival breeders of disease-resistant shrimp about whether a $10 million trade-secrets jury verdict should be overturned after a federal magistrate judge presided over the trial's ending because a federal district judge had to catch a flight, with one of the panel judges saying the parties had been put "in a very difficult position."

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6th Circ. Still Won't Rethink Sanctions Against Trump Attys

By Henrik Nilsson

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday once again denied a bid from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys to reconsider sanctions issued against them after they challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan, holding that the attorneys must seek permission for future filings given their history of "meritless motions."

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