White Collar

  • May 21, 2025

    CFTC Member Says Enforcement Needs More Transparency

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Christy Goldsmith Romero on Wednesday called on the agency to be more transparent about its enforcement decisions, while laying out the factors she weighs in crediting firms for self-reporting and cooperation.

  • May 21, 2025

    Florida Ex-Hospital Exec Charged In $3.6M Fraud Scheme

    The former chief operating officer of the fundraising arm for a Miami-based health system was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with a scheme to falsify $3.6 million in vendor invoices that funneled more than $1 million in kickbacks paid directly to her, Florida federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Verizon Looks To Break Free Of TracFone Unlocking Condition

    Verizon is once again asking the Federal Communications Commission to let it out of a condition from its takeover of TracFone requiring the carrier to unlock its mobile phones after 60 days.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Con's Gun Case Can't Overcome Immunity, Feds Say

    The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives cannot be the targets of a lawsuit filed by a man who claims he was wrongly denied a firearm purchase despite his four-decades-old marijuana felony being expunged, the government argued, telling a Kansas federal court that both agencies have sovereign immunity on the matter.

  • May 21, 2025

    Girardi's Son-In-Law Was No 'Babe In The Woods,' Feds Say

    The Chicago federal judge presiding over a summer client theft trial against Girardi Keese founder Tom Girardi's son-in-law should not limit the government's case based on positions it took during Girardi's California trial because its positions are consistent, and the cases are charged differently, prosecutors argued Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Atty's Cooperation Deal OK'd In Calif. Debt Firm's Ch. 11

    A California bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a deal allowing a disbarred attorney accused of operating a fraudulent debt relief law firm to admit wrongdoing and provide information about the firm's collapse to a court-appointed trustee in an effort to recoup money for creditors.

  • May 21, 2025

    Reed Smith Grows In Atlanta With Kilpatrick White Collar Pair

    Reed Smith LLP has expanded its Atlanta office with two longtime Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP partners, including the former co-leader of Kilpatrick's government enforcement and investigations team and head of its white collar and investigations practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    SF Law Firms' Ex-CFO Gets 3 Years For Embezzling $1.3M

    A former chief financial officer of two San Francisco law firms was sentenced to just over three years in prison Wednesday for stealing more than $1.3 million from the firms and others, after one firm's founder said the defendant appeared to enjoy "stabbing us all in the back."

  • May 21, 2025

    Payday Lender's Ex-CEO Pleads Guilty In $66M Ponzi Scheme

    The former CEO of a Miami payday loan company pled guilty Wednesday to operating a Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say fraudulently raised $66 million from more than 500 investors.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Atty For Slain Journalist Khashoggi Admits Tax Crime

    An attorney who once represented the slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi pled guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting that he withheld $355,000 from the Internal Revenue Service.

  • May 21, 2025

    Distiller Says Ex-Partner, Attys Used RICO Suit To Ruin Him

    A Pennsylvania distiller claims his erstwhile partner in Pittsburgh's Kingfly Spirits launched years of litigation against him designed to ruin his reputation and career, saying in a complaint of his own that the ex-collaborator texted him "game on" before beginning his abusive legal campaign.

  • May 21, 2025

    Democrats Wary of Nominees' Pledge To Honor Court Orders

    Nominees for top roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fended off questions from Democrats on Wednesday about the Trump administration's willingness to defy court orders and pledged that the White House would at least follow rulings of the Supreme Court.

  • May 21, 2025

    Apple Lets Fortnite Back In App Store As Appeal Pends

    Apple has allowed Epic Games to put its popular Fortnite video game back in the App Store, while the sides await a ruling on Apple's bid to pause an injunction mandating additional changes to its policies issued after the court found it had violated a previous order.

  • May 21, 2025

    SafeMoon CEO Convicted Of Looting Crypto Company

    A Brooklyn federal jury on Wednesday quickly found the former CEO of SafeMoon guilty of conspiring to loot over $40 million from the cryptocurrency firm, making him the second former top leader of the once-hot company to be convicted while its founder remains a fugitive.

  • May 21, 2025

    Sports Betting Fraudster Gets 5 Years In Prison

    A Las Vegas man was sentenced Wednesday in Ohio federal court to five years and five months in prison after pleading guilty in a case alleging he used sports betting businesses to bilk $8.5 million from investors for his personal enrichment.

  • May 21, 2025

    Device Maker Who Evaded Tax Gets 2 Years In Prison

    A Florida man who sold millions of dollars worth of medical devices that federal prosecutors said were unproven to work was sentenced to two years in prison for evading taxes and ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

  • May 21, 2025

    Apologetic NJ Atty Gets 21 Months For $350K COVID Fraud

    A New Jersey attorney sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Wednesday for claiming he was a business in order to receive nearly $350,000 earmarked for small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic apologized to the court for the "embarrassment" he caused to the legal profession.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ex-Alvarez & Marsal CPA Sentenced To 20 Months In Tax Case

    A former accountant at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal has been sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service over $2 million for willfully not reporting his income and falsifying the returns in his mortgage application, according to a D.C. federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    11th Circ. Lets Man Seek Rare Writ To Fight $21M Restitution

    A former payroll director serving time for defrauding hospitals in an employment tax scheme can challenge his $21 million restitution by pursuing a rare legal remedy, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, saying the fact that he's in custody doesn't make him ineligible to apply.

  • May 21, 2025

    Gov't Violated Court Order With Removals, Judge Says

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday found that the government violated his order requiring due process protections for individuals facing removal to countries where they have no ties and may face harm, after a group of migrants were put on a plane bound for war-torn South Sudan with just hours' notice.

  • May 21, 2025

    Atty Has Bail Revoked For Continuing Embezzlement After Arrest

    A Massachusetts magistrate judge on Wednesday revoked bail for an attorney who pled guilty to embezzling more than $3 million from several companies and two family members with special needs and dementia, after prosecutors said he was still siphoning funds from victims' accounts after being charged.

  • May 21, 2025

    Feds Say Atty Behind Embassy Attack Can't Avoid Restitution

    A Florida attorney who claimed he was unable to pay restitution for felony convictions after he detonated explosives in San Antonio and outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., cannot avoid the $325,000 bill, federal prosecutors told a D.C. federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    CFTC Faces Leadership Void As 3rd Commissioner Plans Exit

    U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Kristin Johnson has become the third agency member to announce her upcoming departure within the space of a week, potentially leaving the market regulator with a single voting member as it awaits the appointment of a new chair.

  • May 21, 2025

    Nadine Menendez Taps Cozen O'Connor To Fight Conviction

    Former Sen. Bob Menendez's wife, Nadine Menendez, has added Cozen O'Connor as co-counsel as she fights to overturn her conviction on bribery charges, according to a filing in New York federal court.

  • May 20, 2025

    19-Year-Old Mass. Student Admits To PowerSchool Hacking

    A 19-year-old student at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts, has pled guilty to hacking into the networks of two companies, including education software and cloud storage company PowerSchool Group LLC, and extorting them for ransoms, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case

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    Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Why NY May Want To Reconsider Its LLC Transparency Law

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    Against the backdrop of the myriad challenges to the federal Corporate Transparency Act, it may be prudent for New York to reconsider its adoption of the LLC Transparency Act, since it's unclear whether the Empire State's "baby-CTA" statute is still necessary or was passed prematurely, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Considerations As Trump Admin Continues To Curtail CFPB

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    Recent sweeping moves from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's new leadership have signaled a major shift in the agency's trajectory, and regulated entities should prepare for broader implications in both the near and long term, say attorneys at Pryor Cashman.

  • How Foreign Cos. Should Prep For New UK Fraud Law

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    As the U.K. prepares to hold companies criminally liable for failing to prevent fraudulent acts of their associates, U.S. and global companies should review their compliance measures against the broad language of this new offense, which could permit prosecution of acts committed entirely abroad, say attorneys at Latham & Watkins.

  • What's Potentially In Store For CFTC Under New Leadership

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    Under the leadership of acting U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham, and with the nomination of former commissioner Brian Quintenz to serve as permanent chair, the commission is set to widely embrace digital assets and event contracts, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

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    Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

  • 2 Practical Ways For Banks To Battle Elder Financial Abuse

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    Federal regulators' recent statement raising awareness of elder financial exploitation provides a useful catalog of techniques that banks can employ to fight fraud, particularly encouraging older account holders to establish trusted contacts and sharing timely warnings about the latest scams with customers, say attorneys at Nutter.

  • 3 Ways Civil Plaintiffs Could Fill An FCPA Enforcement Gap

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    While the Department of Justice recently announced it would deprioritize Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations into U.S. businesses without obvious ties to international crime, companies should stay alert to private plaintiffs, who could fill this enforcement void — and win significant civil damages — through several legal channels, says Eric Nitz at MoloLamken.

  • Examining Trump Meme Coin And SEC's Crypto Changes

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    While the previous U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tended to view most crypto-assets as securities, the tide is rapidly changing, and hopefully the long-needed reevaluation of this regulatory framework is not tarnished by an arguable conflict of interest due to President Donald Trump's affiliation with the $Trump meme coin, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • Opinion

    State FCAs Should Cover Local Fund Misuse, State Tax Fraud

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    New Jersey and other states with similar False Claims Acts should amend them to cover misappropriated municipal funding, and state and local tax fraud, which would encourage more whistleblowers to come forward and increase their recoveries, says Kenneth Levine at Stone & Magnanini.

  • New Fla. Financial Abuse Law May See Limited Buy-In

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    Florida's newly effective financial protection law comes with compliance burdens and uncertainties that could discourage financial institutions from participating, even though the law aims to shield them from liability for delaying transactions when they suspect exploitation of elderly and vulnerable account holders, say attorneys at Shutts & Bowen.

  • 7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

  • White Collar Archetypes: Wrangling The Shape-Shifter

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    In white collar criminal trials, certain pieces of evidence can shape-shift in the jury’s eyes, presenting both challenges and opportunities for defense counsel, says Jack Sharman at Lightfoot Franklin.

  • Series

    Playing Beach Volleyball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My commitment to beach volleyball has become integral to my performance as an attorney, with the sport continually reminding me that teamwork, perseverance, professionalism and stress management are essential to both undertakings, says Amy Drushal at Trenam.

  • How GSA Lease Clauses May Affect DOGE Terminations

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    The Department of Government Efficiency has begun to cut the U.S. General Services Administration's enormous real estate portfolio, but some standard lease clauses include limits helpful to landlords that may slow progress toward the administration's cost-cutting goals, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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