White Collar

  • January 30, 2026

    Ex-CFO Says Gov't Can't Seize $35M In Funds He Never Had

    A former software executive convicted of illegally transferring $35 million to his own startup, only to lose the money in a cryptocurrency collapse, urged a Washington federal judge to reject the government's effort to seize the funds, arguing that he never personally obtained them.

  • January 30, 2026

    3rd Circ. Backs ​​​​​​​'Modern Icarus' Conviction, Cuts Restitution

    The Third Circuit affirmed Friday the fraud and identify theft conviction of a former clean-energy company CEO who characterized himself as a "modern Icarus" in his appeal, but held that the lower court wrongly ordered him to pay $100,000 in victims' attorney fees in addition to $1.1 million in restitution.

  • January 30, 2026

    SEC Walks Away From Biden-Era Construction Fraud Case

    Greenberg Traurig LLP celebrated a legal victory on Friday as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission abandoned its securities fraud claims against their client, a former construction executive, with a firm leader telling Law360 that a meeting with top SEC staff last year marked a turning point in their favor. 

  • January 30, 2026

    FTC Taps Goodwin Atty For Consumer Protection Deputy Role

    A veteran of Goodwin Procter LLP has been tapped to serve as deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, the regulator announced.

  • January 30, 2026

    'I Will Not Stop Now': Don Lemon Defiant After Arrest

    A Los Angeles federal judge released journalist Don Lemon from custody Friday afternoon, rejecting a prosecutor's request that his travel be restricted after he was arrested Thursday on charges related to his coverage of a protest inside a Minnesota church. 

  • January 30, 2026

    9th Circ. Says DOJ Can Withhold VW Grand Jury Records

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday held that the U.S. Department of Justice couldn't be forced to hand over about 6 million Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal, as the government obtained them through a grand jury subpoena.

  • January 30, 2026

    Startup Founder Ran $37M 'Ponzi-Like' Scheme, SEC Says

    A Silicon Valley software startup owner faces U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims he defrauded at least 100 would-be investors as he raised $37 million, using their money to cover his and his company's expenses in a Ponzi-like scheme.

  • January 30, 2026

    Ex-Mass. Pol Gets Extra Month In Prison For Obstruction

    A former Massachusetts state senator who was two weeks from being released from prison on unemployment and tax fraud charges will spend an additional month in custody for misleading investigators, a federal judge ordered on Friday with "some misgivings."

  • January 30, 2026

    Ex-NC City Council Member Cops To COVID Fraud In Plea Deal

    A former Charlotte City Council member reached a plea deal Friday in her North Carolina federal wire fraud case in which she admits to stealing COVID-19 business relief funds by submitting bogus applications to obtain money she later used to throw herself a birthday party.

  • January 30, 2026

    Ex-TD Bank Employee Cops To Helping Launder Drug Money

    A former TD Bank NA employee who worked in Florida has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and assisting in a money laundering scheme that illicitly sent millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds from the United States to Colombia while employed by the bank.

  • January 30, 2026

    Ex-Fla. Rep. Says Prosecutor Has 'Personal Animus' In DQ Bid

    A former Florida congressman and a lobbyist charged with failing to register as foreign agents for Venezuela urged a federal court to disqualify an assistant U.S. attorney in the case, saying Friday that the prosecutor has a conflict of interest and "personal animus" toward defense counsel.

  • January 30, 2026

    House To Vote On Reform Of Court Nondisclosure Orders

    Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., fumed at the House on Friday for trying to undo a provision that allows him and other senators investigated by special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages and held up the government funding vote as a result. But a bill the House is poised to take up next week could alleviate some of his concerns.

  • January 30, 2026

    NCAA Eyes Outreach, Not Overhaul, In Hoops Betting Scandal

    This month's rash of indictments over alleged point-shaving in college basketball seems unlikely to prompt immediate wholesale changes within the NCAA, with the organization instead looking outward to address the threats posed by risky wagers offered on its games.

  • January 30, 2026

    Lindberg Takes $122M Contempt Order To NC Top Court

    A convicted billionaire is asking North Carolina's top court to take up his appeal seeking to overturn a $122 million contempt order against him, saying the lower court's finding that he was able to pay ignored the precarious reality of selling off a complex business asset.

  • January 30, 2026

    1st Circ. Upholds Atty's 7-Year Sentence In Email Fraud Case

    A panel of the First Circuit has affirmed a more than seven-year prison term and $2 million restitution order for an Illinois lawyer convicted of collecting proceeds from a romance and real estate email fraud scheme.

  • January 30, 2026

    Vertical Farm Co. Owner Gets 3 Years For Tax Evasion, Fraud

    The owner of a vertical farming business was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1 million in restitution after he admitted to evading taxes and lying to his clients, according to a judgment filed Friday in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • January 30, 2026

    Prosecutors Can't Revive RICO Case Against NJ Powerbroker

    The New Jersey Appellate Division on Friday rejected a bid from state prosecutors to revive the criminal racketeering case against South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross and several others, finding that the allegations either did not amount to crimes or were brought too late.

  • January 30, 2026

    Mangione Won't Face Death Penalty, Judge Rules

    A Manhattan federal judge on Friday took the death penalty off the table for Luigi Mangione, dismissing a capital count and setting up an October trial that could see him go to prison for life without the possibility of release.

  • January 29, 2026

    Attacks Haven't Killed Judiciary's AI Rule, May Strengthen It

    Federal judiciary advisers Thursday confronted the most extensive opposition yet in their campaign to ensure the reliability of evidence utilizing artificial intelligence, but the criticism appeared constructive, possibly upping the odds of a digital age addition to U.S. court rules.

  • January 29, 2026

    Trump Sues IRS, Treasury For $10B Over Tax Doc Leak

    President Donald Trump is seeking at least $10 billion in damages in a new lawsuit filed Thursday in Miami federal court that accuses the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of the Treasury of failing to prevent a former IRS contractor from leaking Trump's tax returns to news outlets.

  • January 29, 2026

    Fed's Master Account Stance Goes Too Far, 2nd Circ. Told

    The Federal Reserve's claim of broad discretion to cut financial institutions off from master accounts could turn these U.S. payment system gateways into potential tools of partisan warfare, an attorney for a Puerto Rico bank told a Second Circuit panel Thursday.

  • January 29, 2026

    Ex-Morgan Stanley Adviser Conned NBA Players, Jury Hears

    A Manhattan federal prosecutor Thursday told jurors that a former Morgan Stanley adviser defrauded three NBA players out of millions of dollars through investments in wildly marked up life insurance policies, while defense counsel said the case was built on lies by a former client.

  • February 05, 2026

    CORRECTED: Ex-Worker Says Goldstein Offered Crypto, Gifts As IRS Probed

    A former employee at Thomas Goldstein's law firm who resigned after the Internal Revenue Service began investigating the firm said that the SCOTUSblog founder suddenly began offering her bitcoin, payment from case settlements and potential student loan relief after federal agents visited the office. Correction: An earlier version of this story, which was published January 29, mischaracterized the testimony of Special Agent Quoc Tuan Nguyen. Special Agent Nguyen addressed the dates in metadata that were altered in the course of the document production and did not allege Goldstein engaged in misconduct regarding the emails.

  • January 29, 2026

    Ex-Synapse Compliance Chief Settles FINRA Supervisory Case

    The former chief compliance officer of a subsidiary of bankrupt fintech company Synapse has agreed to a $20,000 fine and yearlong suspension to settle the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's allegations he failed to preserve certain books and records ahead of the firm's collapse.

  • January 29, 2026

    FINRA Fines Compliance Chief, Firm For Reg BI Failures

    The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined a broker-dealer and its chief compliance officer for allegedly failing to supervise representatives' recommendations of certain risky and illiquid bonds, with the latter also agreeing to a three-month suspension.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • 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.

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