White Collar

  • December 11, 2025

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Headed For Competency Hearing

    A New York federal judge said Thursday she will hold a competency hearing for former Abercrombie & Fitch Co. CEO Michael Jeffries to see whether he can stand trial on sex trafficking charges, following recent findings that he's overcome his earlier incompetency.

  • December 11, 2025

    SEC Gets Amended $32M Win In Real Estate Fraud Suit

    A Florida federal judge on Dec. 11 granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's bid for an amended $32 million default judgment against three companies owned by two French half-brothers accused of misappropriating $40 million from investors in a real estate investment fraud scheme, and entered a final judgment against one of the brothers.

  • December 11, 2025

    SEC Must Provide Names To Compliance Chief In Fraud Suit

    An Illinois federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to comply with a chief compliance officer's request for the names of agency staffers familiar with his whistleblower claims as he defends allegations that he played a role in a purportedly fraudulent stock offering by a "sham" energy company.

  • December 11, 2025

    Ill. State Sen. Fends Off Bribery Retrial With Government Deal

    A sitting Illinois state senator who was set for a criminal bribery retrial has agreed instead to enter a deferred prosecution agreement that will see his federal case dismissed next year as long as he follows certain conditions without issue and pays the U.S. government $6,800.

  • December 11, 2025

    Mass. Woman Charged With Theft Of $1M IRS Refund Check

    A Massachusetts woman has been arrested on allegations that she set up a bogus corporation and a bank account in a scheme to steal a tax refund check for nearly $1 million that she says she was sent by a man she met online, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • December 11, 2025

    Fed Terminates 3 Actions Against Credit Suisse, JPMorgan

    The Federal Reserve said Thursday that it has terminated a trio of enforcement actions against Credit Suisse Group AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., lifting consent orders that were tied to alleged illicit finance practices and trade surveillance failures.

  • December 11, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs Man's Convictions In $3.6M Fraud Scheme

    The Fifth Circuit upheld conspiracy convictions for a Dallas man accused of fleecing a bank out of $3.6 million in renewed business loans, after rejecting his argument that the jury's learning of his brother's guilty plea tainted his case, ruling Wednesday that the plea did not directly implicate the man in the conspiracy.

  • December 11, 2025

    Terraform Founder Gets 15 Years For 'Epic' $40B Crypto Scam

    A Manhattan federal judge hit Terraform founder Do Kwon with a 15-year prison sentence Thursday, saying he caused "real people to lose $40 billion in real money" as he orchestrated a massive fraud that sunk the once high-flying crypto concern.

  • December 11, 2025

    Woman Charged With Fraud Over Gov't Cloud Security Claims

    A D.C. federal grand jury indicted a former senior manager of a Virginia-based contractor on fraud, wire fraud and obstruction charges over allegations that she misled the U.S. Army and other agencies about the security of the contractor's cloud-based platform.

  • December 11, 2025

    White House Pushes Halligan's Confirmation Despite Hurdles

    The White House is forging ahead with its bid to win confirmation of the president's controversial pick for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after a federal judge ruled she was serving illegally on an interim basis.

  • December 11, 2025

    MVP: Skadden's David Meister

    David Meister of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP led a defense team representing Ke "Eric" Tang, the founder of cryptocurrency company KuCoin, scoring a deferred prosecution agreement after federal prosecutors indicted Tang on claims he owned part of an unlicensed money transmitting business, earning him a spot among the 2025 Law360 White Collar MVPs.

  • December 11, 2025

    Grassley Urges White House To Step It Up On Noms

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a message for the White House Thursday: "Get on the ball" with nominations for U.S. attorneys and the judiciary.

  • December 10, 2025

    DOJ Gets Another OK To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Docs

    The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday secured another Manhattan federal judge's permission to unseal grand jury and other evidentiary materials related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the judge saying that a new law Congress passed "unequivocally" intends for the materials to be public.

  • December 10, 2025

    Ex-NY Gov Aide Rips Dearth Of Fact Witnesses In FARA Trial

    Counsel for an aide to two New York governors on Wednesday tore into allegations that she secretly acted as an agent of the People's Republic of China, telling a Brooklyn federal jury that the government's case rests on nothing more than out-of-context chats and little relevant testimony.

  • December 10, 2025

    Feds Drop 2 FIFA Bribery Cases Despite Appellate Win

    Brooklyn federal prosecutors are dropping criminal cases against a former 21st Century Fox executive and an Argentine sports marketing company in the long-running FIFA corruption probe, just months after successfully appealing the dismissal of their honest-services fraud conspiracy convictions.

  • December 10, 2025

    Fund Founder Charged With $42M Fraud, SEC Obstruction

    A Canadian citizen was arrested Wednesday in England and indicted on charges that he fraudulently raised more than $42 million from investors he courted on the social media platform Discord and elsewhere, and separately misled lenders in giving him more than $800,000 in credit.

  • December 10, 2025

    Trader Admits To Role In $350M Investment Fraud

    A trader admitted to his role in defrauding dozens of investors out of more than $350 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • December 10, 2025

    4th Circ. Hints $166M Fight​​​​​​​ Could Create Circuit Split

    In questioning counsel for an insolvent Dutch insurance company trying to confirm a $166 million arbitral award against convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg, two Fourth Circuit judges quipped the insurer likely wants to avoid a circuit split over interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act and keep the case out of the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • December 10, 2025

    7th Circ. Upholds Tax Conviction Of DHS Special Agent

    A jury relied on enough evidence to convict a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent of tax crimes related to his secret dealings with drug dealers, the Seventh Circuit said Wednesday, rejecting his claim that proof of his corruption was insufficient.

  • December 10, 2025

    Guilty Budget Official's Legal Bill Battle Sent To Magistrate

    A Connecticut federal judge on Wednesday tapped a magistrate judge to dig into an apparent billing dispute between former state budget official Konstantinos Diamantis and his criminal defense attorney, but he refused to delay a looming bribery trial until he decides whether to allow the lawyer to withdraw.

  • December 10, 2025

    Regulate AI With Existing Regs, Financial Industry Lobby Says

    The Financial Services Institute on Wednesday recommended that regulators apply existing rules and standards to artificial intelligence, saying they should use new rules only when AI brings "genuinely new issues or significantly alters existing risks."

  • December 10, 2025

    Wells Fargo Says It Didn't Know Ex-Atty Stole From Clients

    Wells Fargo is seeking to shed claims in Texas federal court alleging it turned a blind eye to a convicted former attorney's misuse of client funds held in accounts at the bank, arguing that the victims of the lawyer's fraud failed to show it knew of the misconduct.

  • December 10, 2025

    UScellular Can't Call 'Checkmate' In Fraud Suit, Justices Told

    Two whistleblowers told the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday that UScellular cannot escape claims of spectrum auction fraud by arguing they had "pleaded themselves out of court" at an earlier stage of the False Claims Act suit.

  • December 10, 2025

    2nd Circ. Urged To Nix Yacht, $37M Escrow From Guo Ch. 11

    The daughter of Chinese exile Miles Guo on Wednesday asked the Second Circuit to reverse bankruptcy and district court decisions awarding a yacht and a $37 million support account to her father's Chapter 11 estate, saying those courts improperly relied upon a state court decision when issuing quick wins.

  • December 10, 2025

    NJ Law Firm Accused Of Botching Investor Fraud Recovery

    New Jersey firm Beattie Padovano LLC has been sued in state court by a man accusing it of legal malpractice that led to his inability to reclaim nearly $800,000 he says he lost in an investor fraud scheme perpetrated by former frequent CNBC guest James Arthur McDonald Jr.

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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