White Collar

  • August 14, 2025

    Ex-Payday Lender CEO Gets 7 Years For $66M Ponzi Scheme

    The former CEO of a Miami payday loan company was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison for operating a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say fraudulently raised $66 million from more than 600 investors.

  • August 14, 2025

    US Targets Russia-Linked Crypto Exchanges Over Illicit Flows

    The Trump administration on Thursday renewed sanctions on Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex and moved against its successor, Grinex, accusing the platforms of helping launder illicit transactions and shifting business to dodge earlier penalties.

  • August 14, 2025

    Fla. Bar Fights Demand For Bondi Ethics Probe

    The Florida Bar has again pushed back on a request to investigate U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, telling the Supreme Court of Florida that a group of complainants can't bulldoze past its policy of not investigating sitting government officials.

  • August 14, 2025

    Bipartisan Lawmaker Groups Lambaste Habba's Reappointment

    A bipartisan group of current and former members of Congress on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration's appointment of acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, saying doing it without congressional approval is unconstitutional.

  • August 14, 2025

    Feds Urge Court Not To Toss Rep. Cuellar's Bribery Case

    Allowing U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, to escape bribery charges under the Constitution's speech and debate clause would "eviscerate" several precedents set under the provision, prosecutors told a federal judge on Thursday.

  • August 14, 2025

    Purported Cartier Family Scion Denies Laundering Charges

    An Argentinian entrepreneur and professional singer with ties to the family that created jewelry giant Cartier on Thursday denied charges that he helped operate a Colombia cryptocurrency money-laundering network that assisted traffickers in their effort to repatriate $14 million of narcotics proceeds.

  • August 14, 2025

    DOJ Employee Fired After Alleged Sandwich Assault On Agent

    A man charged with felony assault for allegedly throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was a member of the U.S. Department of Justice and has been fired, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday.

  • August 13, 2025

    6th Circ. Clarifies Class Cert. Standard In FirstEnergy Suit

    A class of FirstEnergy investors suing in the wake of a $1 billion bribery scandal should not have been certified, the Sixth Circuit ruled Wednesday, saying the district court applied the wrong standard, but indicated the class could be recertified on remand.

  • August 13, 2025

    Smith Anderson Adds 5 Business Litigation, Data Privacy Pros

    Smith Anderson announced that the firm has brought on five new attorneys who will bolster the Raleigh, North Carolina-based firm's business litigation, data privacy and security, healthcare, real estate and development, and private client practice groups.

  • August 13, 2025

    2 Estonians Get Time Served For $577M Crypto Ponzi Scheme

    Two Estonian nationals have received no additional jail time for operating a $577 million crypto mining Ponzi scheme, despite federal prosecutors' assertions the pair deserved 10 years in prison for the fraud. 

  • August 13, 2025

    Investment Co. Adviser Admits His Role In Fraud Scheme

    An officer of a purported investment company admitted in federal court Wednesday that he lied about working for a Chicago law firm to help fleece investors out of nearly $1 million with false promises of quick returns on high-yield bank instruments.

  • August 13, 2025

    EBay, Former Execs Must Face Bulk Of Harassment Case

    A Massachusetts federal judge has trimmed some defamation and damages claims brought by a pair of bloggers against online retailer eBay in a lawsuit over the company's alleged campaign of retaliation over their coverage, but will allow most of the case to proceed to trial.

  • August 13, 2025

    NJ US Atty Defends Status, Says She Is 'Validly Serving'

    Acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba has hit back against criminal defendants who claim her contentious appointment violates the U.S. Constitution, saying everything is above board and a "lengthy period of acting service is not unusual."

  • August 13, 2025

    BakerHostetler Hires Cooley Securities Litigation Atty

    BakerHostetler has added an experienced litigator to its white collar, investigations and securities enforcement litigation and securities and governance litigation teams in New York, bringing with him more than 25 years of BigLaw experience, including most recently with Cooley LLP.

  • August 13, 2025

    Texas Malpractice Case Over Atty's Nixed Conviction Revived

    A Texas state appellate court on Wednesday revived a malpractice case filed by a now-deceased attorney whose forgery conviction was vacated, saying the trial court must determine whether she was actually innocent before deciding whether her malpractice claim against her criminal defense lawyer can proceed.

  • August 13, 2025

    NC Businessman Nabs Early Exit From Investment Fraud Suit

    A businessman accused of helping launder money for a lab owner in an investment fraud scheme had no duty to disclose his dealings with the allegedly sham operation, a North Carolina Business Court judge has ruled in dismissing investors' claims against him.

  • August 13, 2025

    Convicted ComEd CEO Seeks Bond Pending 7th Circ. Appeal

    Former Commonwealth Edison and Exelon Utilities CEO Anne Pramaggiore has requested to stay out of jail while she appeals her criminal conviction and two-year prison sentence, saying her case was "far from ordinary" and that bond would keep her from serving a substantial portion of her sentence unnecessarily if the Seventh Circuit finds in her favor.

  • August 13, 2025

    Former Probate Judge Gives Up Conn. Law License After DUIs

    A onetime Connecticut probate judge convicted of multiple counts of driving while intoxicated has agreed to permanently hand over his license to practice law in the state.

  • August 13, 2025

    Crypto Casino CEO Charged With $4M Fraud Amid Plea Talks

    The founder of a cryptocurrency casino previously arrested on suspicion of defrauding investors out of $4 million and transferring large sums to an online gambling site was formally charged on Wednesday amid ongoing plea talks.

  • August 13, 2025

    NY AG Says Zelle Parent Enabled $1B In Customer Losses

    New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday sued the big bank-controlled parent company of popular electronic payments platform Zelle, alleging in state court that lax security measures allowed scammers to make off with over $1 billion of user funds.

  • August 13, 2025

    Mass. Loan Biz Morphed Into $7.6M Ponzi Scheme, State Says

    A Massachusetts woman turned her family's small auto financing business into a $7.6 million Ponzi scheme, the state's Securities Division alleged in a complaint.

  • August 12, 2025

    Accountant, Firm Settle SEC's Fintech Fraud Suit For $200K

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled claims in New York federal court against a Nigerian accountant and his firm accused of helping the operator of the Tingo fintech businesses conceal fake audit reports that inflated the value of the firms to further the "massive" fintech fraud.

  • August 12, 2025

    Boeing Must Give Up 737 Max Docs In Jet Purchase Dispute

    A Washington federal judge said Tuesday that Boeing must hand over a decade of internal documents about the safety of the 737 Max to Norwegian Air Shuttle subsidiaries that claim the aerospace giant duped them into a jet purchase deal.

  • August 12, 2025

    OneTaste Execs Lose Acquittal Bid In Forced Labor Case

    A Brooklyn federal judge has refused to grant OneTaste's founder and sales director a judgment of acquittal following their conviction for a forced labor conspiracy at the "orgasmic meditation" company, saying the trial evidence against them was abundant.

  • August 12, 2025

    Terraform Founder Cops To $40B Crypto Fraud Scheme

    The founder and former CEO of Terraform Labs on Tuesday admitted to perpetrating a multibillion-dollar fraud by deceiving investors about its decentralized finance-based ecosystem of crypto products, a scheme that wiped out $40 billion in market value when it collapsed.

Expert Analysis

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute

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    The new dark comedy film “Oh, Hi!” — depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping — should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • How Banks Can Harness New Customer ID Rule's Flexibility

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    Banking regulators' update to the customer identification process, allowing banks to collect some information from third parties rather than directly from customers, helps modernize anti-money laundering compliance and carries advantages for financial institutions that embrace the new approach, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • Opinion

    Premerger Settlements Don't Meet Standard For Bribery

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    Claims that Paramount’s decision to settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump while it was undergoing a premerger regulatory review amounts to a quid pro quo misconstrue bribery law and ignore how modern legal departments operate, says Ediberto Román at the Florida International University College of Law.

  • Series

    Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

  • Grappling With Workforce-Related Immigration Enforcement

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    To withstand the tightening of workforce-related immigration rules and the enforcement uptick we are seeing in the U.S. and elsewhere, companies must strike a balance between responding quickly to regulatory changes, and developing proactive strategies that minimize risk, say attorneys at Fragomen.

  • DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement

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    The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.

  • What To Do When Congress And DOJ Both Come Knocking

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    As recently seen in the news, clients may find themselves facing parallel U.S. Department of Justice and congressional investigations, requiring a comprehensive response that considers the different challenges posed by each, say attorneys at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Learning From Failure

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    While law school often focuses on the importance of precision, correctness and perfection, mistakes are inevitable in real-world practice — but failure is not the opposite of progress, and real talent comes from the ability to recover, rethink and reshape, says Brooke Pauley at Tucker Ellis.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Tips For Crypto AI Agent Developers Under SEC Watch

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    With agents powered by artificial intelligence increasingly making decisions in the cryptocurrency world, there's a chance the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could use the Investment Advisers Act to regulate this technology in financial services, but there are ways developers can mitigate regulatory risks, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

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    As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

  • New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

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    In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • A Look At Key 5th Circ. White Collar Rulings So Far This Year

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    In the first half of 2025, the Fifth Circuit has decided numerous cases of particular import to white collar practitioners, which collectively underscore the critical importance of meticulous recordbuilding, procedural compliance and strategic litigation choices at every stage of a case, says Joe Magliolo at Jackson Walker.

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