White Collar

  • July 23, 2025

    Feds Seek 15 Months For Lobbyist Over Madigan Scheme

    Federal prosecutors have urged an Illinois federal judge to sentence ex-ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty to one year and three months in prison for his "critical role" in a scheme to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose associates were paid as "subcontractors" under Doherty's lobbying contract with the utility even though they did little to no work.

  • July 23, 2025

    Operators Of Streaming Site Jetflicks Sentenced Up To 7 Years

    Five people convicted last year of running an illegal streaming website called Jetflicks have been sentenced by a Nevada federal judge, with one receiving seven years in prison and three others receiving shorter terms.

  • July 23, 2025

    Indiana CPA Gets 3 Years In Royalty Payment Tax Scheme

    An Indiana accountant received a three-year prison sentence for willfully preparing tax returns for clients who inappropriately claimed millions of dollars worth of business deductions based on false royalty payments made for using intellectual property, according to federal prosecutors.

  • July 23, 2025

    Unlicensed $1M Crypto Exchange Operator Pleads Guilty

    A 56-year-old Connecticut man has pled guilty to charging fees for swapping more than $1 million in cash, checks and money orders for cryptocurrency at a West Haven business that didn't obtain a license from the state banking commissioner.

  • July 23, 2025

    US Says It's Immune In Booz Allen Worker Tax Info Leak Suit

    A proposed class action seeking to hold the federal government and its contractor Booz Allen Hamilton responsible for a leak of thousands of wealthy people's tax returns, including President Donald Trump's, cannot move forward against the U.S., the government argued Wednesday, saying it's immune from the suit.

  • July 23, 2025

    Judge Cites 'Frankenstein' In Ruling On Human Remains Case

    An oddities shop owner failed to convince a Pennsylvania federal judge that buying and selling human remains does not amount to transporting stolen goods and that charges against her should be dismissed, with the judge reasoning that the body parts fit the legal definition of stolen property.

  • July 23, 2025

    NJ Power Broker Blasts AG's Bid To Revive RICO Case

    Garden State power broker George E. Norcross III on Wednesday urged a New Jersey appeals court to affirm the dismissal of the state's explosive racketeering indictment, arguing the trial court was right to toss the charges because there are no factual allegations in the indictment that amount to a crime.

  • July 23, 2025

    Takeaways From The US Attorney Role Tumult In New Jersey

    The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey was thrown into turmoil Tuesday with a leadership dispute that remained open Wednesday, teeing up a battle between the White House and the Garden State's senators on Capitol Hill.

  • July 23, 2025

    CFTC Settles With Puerto Rico-Based Gas Futures Trader

    The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a Puerto Rico-based natural gas futures trader on Wednesday announced that they had reached a settlement, ending the agency's suit alleging that the trader used nonpublic information to make profitable energy trades.

  • July 23, 2025

    2nd Circ. Orders Review Of Sealed Epstein Case Docs

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday vacated rulings denying requests to unseal materials in a defamation case tied to deceased financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, ordering a New York district court to review certain filings after determining they're considered judicial documents and presumed to be public.

  • July 23, 2025

    Apple Tells 9th Circ. Birthright Ruling Scraps Epic's Injunction

    Apple Inc. told the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in litigation challenging President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order means that a nationwide injunction and civil contempt order in Epic Games Inc.'s antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies cannot stand.

  • July 23, 2025

    Rising Star: Sullivan & Cromwell's Jacob Croke

    Jacob Croke helped Sullivan & Cromwell LLP locate and recover billions of dollars worth of missing assets left over from the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, earning him a spot among the white collar law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • July 23, 2025

    Judges Order Abrego Garcia's Release, Bar ICE Detention

    A Tennessee federal judge ruled Wednesday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is facing human smuggling charges after he was mistakenly deported and then returned, can be released, following which a Maryland judge quickly barred him from being taken into immigration custody.

  • July 23, 2025

    Feds Launch Forfeiture Suit For $7M In Fraud-Linked Crypto

    The acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington said she is pushing for the forfeiture of about $7 million in cryptocurrency assets seized as part of an investigation into an oil and gas investment fraud scheme.

  • July 23, 2025

    Ex-SDNY Civil Rights Unit Chief Joins Boies Schiller

    A former high-ranking federal prosecutor in Manhattan who oversaw the recent criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs has joined Boies Schiller Flexner LLP as a partner in its New York office, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • July 22, 2025

    FCA Draws Heavy Constitutional Fire After $1.6B J&J Verdict

    Reeling from a record fraud verdict tied to drug promotion practices, Johnson & Johnson is pursuing a sweeping constitutional challenge to the False Claims Act, and in filings this week at the Third Circuit, major industry allies rallied behind its views of whistleblower litigants usurping executive branch power.

  • July 22, 2025

    Engineer Cops To Stealing Missile Tracking Tech To Aid China

    An engineer who worked at a tech company admitted in California federal court to stealing trade secrets regarding nuclear missile detection used by the U.S. government after previously seeking to help the People's Republic of China with its military research, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • July 22, 2025

    SEC Says Ariz. Man Traded On Pal's Divulged Merger Info

    An Arizona man has agreed to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nearly $168,000 to resolve claims he engaged in insider trading of a trucking company's shares after a friend who worked for the company's competitor informally mentioned his employer's secret acquisition talks.

  • July 22, 2025

    Convicted Crypto Hacker Used Tornado Cash To Aid Coverup

    A former Amazon engineer who was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to stealing approximately $12 million from cryptocurrency exchanges testified Tuesday that he used Tornado Cash as part of a complex scheme to cover his hacking activities, as the trial of its co-founder entered its second week.

  • July 22, 2025

    OCC Defends Ex-Wells Fargo Exec's $10M Fake Accounts Fine

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has urged the Eighth Circuit to uphold a $10 million penalty and industry ban against a former Wells Fargo risk executive for her role in the bank's fake accounts scandal, arguing her post-Jarkesy claims rest on a "fundamental misconception" of the Constitution.

  • July 22, 2025

    CFTC Denied Early Win In $185M Metals Fraud Suit

    A Texas federal judge has denied summary judgment to both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and two individual defendants in a fraud suit that accuses them and their entities of ripping off more than 1,600, mostly elderly, investors and causing over $185 million in customer losses, setting the matter up for a potential trial.

  • July 22, 2025

    Sandoz Loses 'Nonsense' Bid To Avoid DOJ Deal In AGs' Case

    A Connecticut federal judge has given dozens of state attorneys general a small but important win in a sprawling price-fixing litigation against generic-drug makers, applying previous admissions of criminal wrongdoing and flatly rejecting "ridiculous" efforts by Sandoz, Taro Pharmaceuticals and a former Sandoz official to avoid that application.

  • July 22, 2025

    Fla. Woman Gets 30 Months For Nearly $1M Student Aid Fraud

    A Florida woman was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud-related charges for her role in a years-long scheme enrolling fake students in low-cost colleges to steal almost $1 million in federal financial aid from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday. 

  • July 22, 2025

    Ex-Broker Charged In $9.5M Ponzi Scheme Targeting Investors

    An ex-securities broker was indicted on one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering for allegedly orchestrating a $9.5 million Ponzi scheme involving purported bond investment opportunities and faces a parallel civil suit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • July 22, 2025

    Judge Nixes 'Ghost' Lawyer's Suit Against Ex-Employee, Atty

    A Florida judge has tossed a lawsuit that an attorney accused of ghosting and defrauding his clients brought against his former paralegal and a legal malpractice lawyer alleging they conspired to steal his clients and trash his reputation.

Expert Analysis

  • 4 Ways To Leverage A Jury's Underdog Perceptions

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    Counsel should consider how common factors that speak to their client's size, power, past challenges and alignment with jurors can be presented to try and paint their client as a sympathetic underdog, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Why Hiring Former Jurors As Consultants Can Be Risky

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    The defense team's decision to hire former juror Victoria George in the high-profile retrial of Karen Read shines a spotlight on this controversial strategy, which raises important legal, ethical and tactical questions despite not being explicitly prohibited, says Nikoleta Despodova at ND Litigation.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From NY Fed To BigLaw

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    While the move to private practice brings a learning curve, it also brings chances to learn new skills and grow your network, requiring a clear understanding of how your skills can complement and contribute to a firm's existing practice, and where you can add new value, says Meghann Donahue at Covington.

  • Combs Case Reveals Key Pretrial Scheduling Strategies

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    The procedural battles over pretrial disclosure deadlines leading up to the criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs show how disclosure timing can substantially affect defendants’ ability to prepare and highlight several scheduling pointers for defense counsel, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

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    Though the U.S. has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to reverse any setback in anti-corruption enforcement, potentially heightening prosecution risk for companies headquartered in the U.S., says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • A Tale Of Two Admins: Parsing 1st Half Of SEC's FY 2025

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    The first half of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, was unusually eventful, marked by a flurry of enforcement actions in the last three months of former Chair Gary Gensler's tenure and a prompt pivot after Inauguration Day, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • How Attorneys Can Make The Most Of A Deposition Transcript

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    With recent amendments to federal evidence rules now in effect, it’s more important than ever to make sure that deposition transcripts are clear and precise, and a few key strategies can help attorneys get the most out of a transcript before, during and after a deposition, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in U.S. v. Sorensen, reversing a conviction after trial of a durable medical equipment distributor, highlights two principle considerations for determining whether payments to marketers in healthcare are unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard Mullin.

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