White Collar

  • January 31, 2025

    Goldstein Case Raises The Stakes For A DOJ Office In Tumult

    The bombshell tax-crimes case of U.S. Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein landed at a U.S. Department of Justice outpost in Maryland that has been plagued in recent years by botched cases and internal strife — pitting a beleaguered U.S. attorney against a pair of former Donald Trump attorneys itching for a fight.

  • January 31, 2025

    Jury Instructions Tainted Ex-State's Atty's Trial, 4th Circ. Hears

    A Fourth Circuit decision from 1938 took center stage Friday as a seemingly divided appellate panel debated whether a jury that found former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby guilty of mortgage fraud had been improperly instructed on where the crime occurred.

  • January 31, 2025

    Mass. Justices Rule 'Unwarranted Privilege' Law Not Vague

    Massachusetts' top court ruled on Friday that a statute that bars public officials from misusing the benefits of their position for private gain is not unconstitutionally vague, rejecting a former police officer's bid to reverse his conviction for borrowing cash from his department's evidence room to pay his mortgage and other personal expenses.

  • January 31, 2025

    White Collar Group Of The Year: Covington

    Covington & Burling LLP successfully ended a five-year government investigation into alleged illegal monkey importation by two drug development companies with no enforcement actions and secured a favorable plea for a private equity manager accused of what prosecutors claimed was the most significant white collar case ever in Oregon, earning a spot among the 2024 Law360 White Collar Groups of the Year.

  • January 31, 2025

    6th Circ. Affirms Pot Biz Owner's $2.8M Tax Restitution

    The owner of a medical marijuana dispensary who was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution to the IRS after being convicted of tax crimes failed to convince the Sixth Circuit that Congress lacked the power to tax his sales of the drug.

  • January 30, 2025

    SEC's Trial Win In VistaPrint Insider Trading Case Stands

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday rejected a Lexington man's contention that his conviction for trading VistaPrint options off of nonpublic information resulted from an inconsistent jury verdict, but said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's request he pay $1.8 million in civil penalties for the insider trading was too much.

  • January 30, 2025

    Jay-Z Blasts Buzbee For 'Reputation-Destroying Allegations'

    Rapper Jay-Z has doubled down on his bid for sanctions against Texas attorney Tony Buzbee for filing a lawsuit accusing him of raping a 13-year-old with Sean "Diddy" Combs more than 20 years ago, saying the attorney has "weaponized" baseless accusations via social media and TV interviews.

  • January 30, 2025

    R. Allen Stanford's $6.8B SEC Bill In Ponzi Suit Finalized

    A Texas federal court on Wednesday entered a judgment finalizing a 2013 order requiring convicted Ponzi schemer Robert Allen Stanford to fork over $6.76 billion in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's nearly 16-year-old suit over the $7 billion fraud scheme.

  • January 30, 2025

    2nd Circ. Voices Unease Over Ex-Iconix CEO's Fraud Retrial

    The Second Circuit on Thursday expressed doubt regarding the conviction of Iconix Brand Group founder Neil Cole, who was found guilty of fraudulently booking $11 million of revenue to hit earnings targets, and appeared open to the argument that his retrial violated the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment.

  • January 30, 2025

    Ex-Rabobank Exec Asks Justices To Hear 9th Circ. OCC Fight

    A former Rabobank compliance chief who wants to clear her name after a now-abandoned Office of the Comptroller of the Currency enforcement action has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her case following the Ninth Circuit's dismissal of her appeal for lack of standing.

  • January 30, 2025

    Sheriffs Raise Concern About New FCC Prison Phone Caps

    A sheriffs' group brought concerns to the Federal Communications Commission about recently adopted caps on prison phone rates, saying the exclusion of certain cost categories would lead to less access to services for the incarcerated.

  • January 30, 2025

    Former Pharma Exec Gets 2 Months For Insider Trading

    A former Ipsen Pharmaceuticals executive who pled guilty to insider trading last fall was sentenced to two months in prison Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston has announced.

  • January 30, 2025

    Patel Pledges Independent FBI Amid Heavy Dem Skepticism

    President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist, during a hearing Thursday attempted to convince Democratic senators that he would be guided by independence if confirmed and deflected when asked about his past controversial statements.

  • January 30, 2025

    Combs Victimized 3 Women, Feds Charge In Expanded Case

    Sean "Diddy" Combs forced at least three women to engage in commercial sex acts, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Thursday in a superseding indictment accusing the jailed hip-hop icon of using his business empire to sexually abuse and exploit women for 20 years.

  • January 30, 2025

    SEC Eyes Pretrial Win On $57M Fraud After Lindberg Plea Deal

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a North Carolina federal judge to give it a pretrial win on its fraud claims against convicted former insurance mogul Greg Lindberg and his investment adviser firm, arguing multiple convictions in parallel criminal cases against Lindberg and others are a "straightforward" indicator of his liability.

  • January 30, 2025

    Ex-FDNY Official Cops To Fire Inspection Bribe Scheme

    A former chief of the New York City Fire Department's Bureau of Fire Prevention pled guilty in a case alleging he took bribes from a former firefighter in exchange for expediting fire inspections and plan reviews.

  • January 30, 2025

    Texas AG's Deputy Tapped For Trump's DOJ

    A deputy in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has been tapped for President Donald Trump's Justice Department, Paxton announced Thursday.

  • January 30, 2025

    IUOE's Top Leader Pleads Guilty To Filing False DOL Reports

    A former International Union of Operating Engineers general president pled guilty to not disclosing $315,000 worth of event tickets in annual reports to the U.S. Department of Labor, according to federal court filings, with the ex-union leader facing a potential prison sentence and thousands in fines.

  • January 30, 2025

    Former NJ Judge Leaving 2nd Stint As County Prosecutor

    Carolyn Murray, acting Sussex County prosecutor, is retiring at the end of January, concluding a legal career that has also included serving as a state Superior Court judge, a federal prosecutor and a county prosecutor in another vicinage, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said Thursday.

  • January 30, 2025

    Atty Should Lose License In Billing Scandal Case, Judge Says

    A San Fernando Valley attorney colluded with attorneys for the city of Los Angeles in a water utility class action for which he received a $1.65 million fee and later sought to hire hackers to spy on the judge presiding over the class suit, a State Bar of California judge has found.

  • January 30, 2025

    White Collar Group Of The Year: Kaplan Marino

    Kaplan Marino secured a client's acquittal of federal bribery charges, dismissal of state charges for an attorney accused in a kickback scheme and negotiated a probated sentence for a doctor accused of over 40 state crimes, earning it a spot among the 2024 Law360 White Collar Groups of the Year.

  • January 30, 2025

    Muscogee Nation Sues Oklahoma DAs In Sovereignty Dispute

    The Muscogee (Creek) Nation has filed a pair of lawsuits against Oklahoma District Attorneys Carol Iski and Matthew Ballard, accusing them of illegally prosecuting Native Americans for conduct committed on tribal lands despite the Supreme Court's 2020 McGirt ruling, days after the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations moved to intervene in similar U.S. government complaints.

  • January 30, 2025

    SCOTUSblog Publisher Can't Shield Home From Forfeiture

    SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein won't be able to shield his Washington, D.C., residence from forfeiture by substituting various properties in South Carolina as he battles charges that he dodged taxes and used his law firm's money to pay off gambling debts.

  • January 30, 2025

    Gov't Urges High Court To OK 2nd 'Buffalo Billion' Trial

    The federal government asked the U.S. Supreme Court to clear the way for a second trial in a public corruption case tied to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "Buffalo Billion" development initiative, saying prosecutors should be allowed to pursue charges under a different theory after the justices undid the original convictions.

  • January 29, 2025

    Binary Options Fraudsters Must Pay $451.6M To CFTC

    An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday ordered three Israeli businessmen and the overseas businesses they owned or ran to pay over $451.6 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, holding them liable for lying about the profitability of binary options transactions and misappropriating customer funds.

Expert Analysis

  • Gov't Scrutiny Of Workplace Chat Apps Set To Keep Growing

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    The incoming Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress are poised to open numerous investigations that include increasing demands for entities to produce communications from workplace chat apps, so companies must evaluate their usage and retention policies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Using Contracts As Evidence Of Trade Secret Protection

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    Recent federal and U.S. International Trade Commission decisions demonstrate an interesting trend of judges recognizing that contracts and confidentiality provisions can serve as important evidence of the reasonable secrecy measures companies must take to prove the existence of protected trade secrets, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • An Underutilized Tool To Dismiss Meritless Claims In Texas

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    In Texas, special appearances provide a useful but often overlooked tool for out-of-state defendants to escape meritless claims early in litigation, thus limiting discovery and creating a pathway for immediate appellate review, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024

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    From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Changes To Expect From SEC Under Trump Nominee

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    President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair will likely lead to significant shifts in the Division of Enforcement's priorities, likely focused on protecting retail investors and the stability of the capital markets, say attorneys at Morrison Foerster.

  • Executive Orders That Could Affect Financial Services In 2025

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    The incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly revive or update a number of prior executive orders, and possibly issue new ones, that could affect financial services by emphasizing market discipline rather than regulatory initiatives to drive change in the industry, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • What To Know About FinCEN's Deepfake Warning

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    A recent alert from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network warns about the increased use of deepfake media to target financial institutions and their customers, showing that what seems like futuristic technology is a current threat that requires diligent controls and awareness of red flags, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • 'Minimal Participant' Bar Is Tough To Clear For Whistleblowers

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate whistleblower pilot program, would-be whistleblowers will find it tough to show that they only minimally participated in criminal misconduct while still providing material information, but sentencing precedent shows how they might prove their eligibility for an award, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • Impact Of Corporate Transparency Act Ambiguity On Banks

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    Even though banks generally needn't file beneficial ownership information reports, financial institutions must continue to monitor the status of the Corporate Transparency Act and understand its requirements in case the nationwide injunction that was issued against the CTA earlier this month is overturned, say attorneys at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • A Look At SEC, CFTC's Record Year For Whistleblower Awards

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    Another banner year shows that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have developed the gold standard for whistleblower award programs, but a CFTC funding crisis threatens to derail that program's success, say Andrew Feller and Geoff Schweller at Kohn Kohn.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Expect Continuity In 2025 Anti-Money Laundering Policy

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    The past year has seen a range of anti-money laundering actions from federal financial regulators, and notwithstanding the imminent change from the Biden administration to the Trump administration, continuity may be more prevalent than change in the AML compliance space in 2025, say attorneys at White & Case.

  • 5 Notable Anti-Money Laundering Actions From 2024

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    Regulators' renewed interest in anti-money laundering programs in 2024 led to numerous enforcement actions and individual prosecutions in industries like banking, cryptocurrency and gaming, including the blockbuster TD Bank settlement and investigations of casinos in Nevada, says Michael Beckwith at Dickinson Wright.

  • How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of Eye Contact At Trial

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    As a growing body of research confirms that eye contact facilitates communication and influences others, attorneys should follow a few pointers to maximize the power of eye contact during voir dire, witness preparation, direct examination and cross-examination, says trial consultant Noelle Nelson.

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