Goldstein Assails 'Radical' DOJ Case, Probe Of 'Sexual Habits'

By Jeff Overley

In his most forceful attack on tax evasion charges that have roiled the U.S. Supreme Court bar, indicted appellate icon Thomas C. Goldstein is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of embracing "breathtaking" legal theories and revealing prurient information about him "to bias the grand jury."

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Avenatti Rips 'Draconian' Bid To Add 13 Years To Sentence

By Elliot Weld

Former high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti asked a California federal judge to reject the government's request to tack on more than 13 years to his prison term, saying such a "draconian" result would conflict with a Ninth Circuit ruling wiping out a previous sentence in the fraud case.

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Ex-Navy Admiral Convicted Of Steering Contracts

By Elliot Weld

A retired high-ranking U.S. Navy admiral was convicted Monday by a D.C. federal jury of bribery charges stemming from allegations that he steered Navy contracts to a consulting company whose executives promised him a lucrative post-retirement job.

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Investment Adviser Seeks Cadwalader Notes In Fraud Case

By Elliot Weld

An investment manager who used to be represented by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche when Blanche was a partner at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP has asked a Brooklyn federal judge to order the firm to turn over documents that he called "critical" to his defense on fraud and money laundering charges.

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Ex-OneTaste Staffer Says Sexual Labor Was Part Of The Job

By Stewart Bishop

A former OneTaste sales employee and "coach" testified Monday in the trial of two former executives, saying she was directed to engage in sexual activity while working a grueling schedule for the sex-themed wellness company, one of multiple ex-staffers to say they suffered psychological harm from their time at OneTaste.

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Feds To Use FCA To Go After Antisemitism, DEI Policies

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it will use the False Claims Act to go after any recipients of federal funds that the agency determines promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and allow antisemitism to thrive.

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SEC's 'Shadow Trading' Win Should Be Tossed, 9th Circ. Told

By Sarah Jarvis

An ex-Medivation Inc. executive found liable in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first-ever "shadow trading" case has asked the Ninth Circuit to overturn the verdict, arguing that his company's policies should have kept the matter from going to a jury in the first place.

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Real Estate CEO Gets 87 Months For $63M Crowdfund Fraud

By Chart Riggall

The former CEO of a real estate investment firm who copped to ripping off investors in a crowdfunded $63 million development scheme was hit with a seven-plus-year prison sentence Monday from a Georgia federal judge who said the financier's "addiction to optimism" had been his ruin.

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Ex-Exec Says CEO Fraudster Solely To Blame For $2M Theft

By Thy Vo

A former Arrow Electronics executive accused of helping steal $2 million told a Colorado federal jury Monday at the start of a seven-day wire fraud trial that he was just an unwitting pawn in a fraud scheme orchestrated by a database company CEO and "master manipulator." 

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Diamond Dealer Sentenced In $13M Fla. Fraud Case

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge sentenced a Pennsylvania man to more than six years in prison after he admitted to defrauding more than 100 victims out of $13 million in connection with a diamond investment Ponzi scheme.

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Brief

Judge Sets February Trial Date In Bribery Case Of Coal Exec

By Elaine Briseño

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday set a February trial date for a coal executive charged with bribing foreign officials for business, with jury selection beginning Feb. 3 and opening statements taking place Feb. 9.

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Brief

2 Menendez Associates Must Await Appeal Behind Bars

By Carla Baranauckas

The Second Circuit rejected bids by two of the businessmen convicted of bribing ex-U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez to avoid prison pending their appeal on a blockbuster corruption conviction.

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Ex-Bank GC Fights $7.4M Fraud Restitution Schedule

By Aaron Keller

A former Webster Bank general counsel has opposed part of a government plan for repaying the $7.4 million he pled guilty to taking by fraud, saying he will be in prison for four years, resigned as an attorney, remains unemployed and cannot work in banking once he's free.

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Calif. Landowners Seek Review Of 7th Amendment Precedent

By Sam Reisman

A group of Northern California landowners has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case arguing that the constitutional right to a jury trial should apply in instances of local law enforcement issuing civil penalties for alleged illicit marijuana growing.

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'Tornado Cash' Founder Says Feds Withheld Key Evidence

By Aislinn Keely

Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm is demanding federal prosecutors conduct a "thorough" review for additional evidence in his case after the government disclosed in a separate crypto mixer prosecution that Treasury employees had a contrary view of the Justice Department's unlicensed money transmission theory.

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Terror Claimants Get OK To Serve Ex-Binance CEO's Counsel

By Caroline Simson

A group of claimants suing Binance for allegedly abetting terrorist attacks have won permission to serve the cryptocurrency exchange's former CEO through his domestic counsel, after a New York federal judge found Friday that the plaintiffs had tried, unsuccessfully, to find his address in the United Arab Emirates.

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Justices Punt On Tribe Leader's Extortion Immunity Claim

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition from the former head of a Native American tribe who argued that the First Circuit was wrong to reinstate his convictions tied to the development of a casino project after it concluded that federal extortion law applies to tribal leaders.

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CFTC Should Pay $3M Atty Fees After Sanctions, Firm Says

By Jessica Corso

A foreign exchange firm that won dismissal of a U.S. Commodity Futures Exchange Commission case after a New Jersey federal judge sanctioned the agency for bad faith behavior now says the CFTC should have to pay nearly $3 million for failing to own up to its mistake sooner.

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Doc Loses 4th Circ. Fight Over $5.5M Order After FCA Deal

By Carla Baranauckas

A North Carolina district court was right to reject a doctor and his wife's request to overturn or modify a $5.5 million judgment against them for allegedly hiding assets after settling a previous False Claims Act case with the government, the Fourth Circuit ruled Monday.

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Brief

Conn. Con Man Admits To New $1.9M Medicaid Scam

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut man has admitted to a federal charge in connection with a Medicaid scam he ran with a now-former state employee that netted nearly $1.9 million, federal prosecutors said, noting that some of the criminal activity took place while he was in prison for a different healthcare ripoff.

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'50 Cent' Liquor Biz Eyes Ex-Boss's Conn. Home For $7M Debt

By Ryan Harroff

Famed rapper Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson's liquor company asked a Connecticut bankruptcy court to let the business enforce its lien on its former brand manager Mitchell Green's $1 million home in Westport to help satisfy a $7 million fraud judgment, arguing that the lien will not disrupt Green's Chapter 7 proceedings.

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Cheesesteak Shop Owner's Sentence For Tax Scheme Vacated

By Anna Scott Farrell

A Philadelphia cheesesteak shop owner sentenced to almost two years in prison for a conspiracy to pay employees under the table could get a lighter sentence after the Third Circuit ruled he was wrongly given extra time for swaying workers who were actually in on the tax scheme.

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Apple's Refusal To Put Fortnite On App Store Prompts Hearing

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge issued an order Monday requiring Apple to show why she should not find that the company has violated her recent injunction requiring changes to its App Store policies, after Epic Games complained that the tech giant is refusing to put Fortnite back on its U.S. online storefront.

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How Cos. Can Navigate Risks Of New Cartel Terrorist Labels

The Trump administration’s recent designation of eight drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations gives rise to new criminal and civil liabilities for companies that are unwittingly exposed to cartel activity, but businesses can mitigate such risks in a few key ways, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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What We Lost After SEC Eliminated Regional Director Role

Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regional Director Marc Fagel discusses the recent wholesale elimination of the regional director position, the responsibilities of the job itself and why discarding this role highlights how the appearance of creating a more efficient agency may limit the SEC's effectiveness.

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Takeaways From DOJ's 1st Wage-Fixing Jury Conviction

U.S. v. Lopez marked the U.S. Department of Justice's first labor market conviction at trial as a Nevada federal jury found a home healthcare staffing executive guilty of wage-fixing and wire fraud, signaling that improper agreements risk facing successful criminal prosecution, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

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Posner Wins Ex-Staffer's $170K Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A former executive at retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner's short-lived pro bono legal services organization lost his bid for $170,000 in back pay he claimed to be owed on Monday when an Indiana federal court found claims to be untimely.

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Ex-Litigator Settles Disability Bias Suit Against Wilson Elser

By Emily Sawicki

A former Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP litigator on Monday agreed to permanently drop his federal disability bias suit against the firm, after the sides came to a confidential resolution.

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Justices Allow End Of Temporary Protections For Venezuelans

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration may rescind temporary protected status for Venezuelans, lifting a California federal judge's order requiring the government to keep Biden-era removal protections and work authorizations in place during a legal battle over a policy change.

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Split DC Circ. Pauses Halt On Trump's Union Rights Order

By Beverly Banks

A divided D.C. Circuit panel greenlighted President Donald Trump's request to pause a lower court decision that blocked the implementation of an executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for federal employees, concluding the injunction ruling "ties the government's hands."

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Kirkland Guides Blackstone's $11.5B Deal For TXNM Energy

By Al Barbarino

Blackstone Infrastructure has agreed to acquire regulated utility holding company TXNM Energy in an all-cash transaction valued at $11.5 billion, including net debt and preferred stock, TXNM said in a Monday announcement.

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