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White Collar

  • August 06, 2025

    Spinal Implant Co. CEO Avoids Prison After Plea Deal

    The founder and CEO of Massachusetts medical device maker SpineFrontier was sentenced Wednesday to a year of supervised release, the first six months on home confinement, for directing employees to mislead the government about the nature of payments to a surgeon who was using the company's products.

  • August 06, 2025

    NY US Atty Faces Watchdog's Ethics Suit After Altercation

    Legal ethics watchdog Campaign for Accountability on Wednesday called for an ethics probe of acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III of the Northern District of New York, alleging that he made a number of deceptive claims arising from a June altercation.

  • August 06, 2025

    Texas Immigration Firm Says Rival Falsely Accused It Of Fraud

    A Houston immigration firm has accused a rival of falsely claiming that it encouraged clients to lie on their applications for legal status.

  • August 06, 2025

    Tornado Founder Gets Partial Mistrial, Convicted On 1 Count

    A federal jury in Manhattan on Wednesday convicted Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm of conspiring to operate the crypto mixer as an unlicensed money transmitting business, but deadlocked on money laundering and sanctions charges.

  • August 06, 2025

    SEC Pursues UK Man's Assets Over $10M Stock Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a legal action in England to enforce a $350,000 U.S. court judgment against a man the agency has alleged was involved in a $10 million fraudulent trans-Atlantic microcap stock trading scheme.

  • August 05, 2025

    Tornado Cash Jury Still Out, SEC Leader Backs Privacy Tech

    Jury deliberations in the money laundering and sanctions trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm continued Tuesday with no verdict, one day after a top securities regulator championed the legitimacy of privacy-protecting technologies, much like defense claims about the cryptocurrency tumbler.

  • August 05, 2025

    Feds Charge 2 With Shipping Nvidia AI Chips To China

    Two Chinese nationals residing in California were charged with using a company they founded to unlawfully export microchips used in AI applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China in violation of the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2025

    2nd Circ. Nixes Madoff Feeder Fund Clawback Suits

    About 300 clawback lawsuits filed by the liquidators of British Virgin Islands-based funds that invested in Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities should be dismissed, a Second Circuit panel said on Tuesday, finding the deals were protected by the U.S. Bankruptcy Code's safe harbor for securities transactions.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-ComEd Lobbyist Gets 1 Year For Masking Madigan Bribes

    A former lobbyist for Commonwealth Edison was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Tuesday for allowing his lobbying firm to serve as a pass-through for the utility to pay associates of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan for little to no work, as it sought his support for favorable energy legislation.

  • August 05, 2025

    Shuttered NJ Importer Pleads Guilty To Hiding AC Fire Risks

    A defunct New Jersey importer of consumer appliances pled guilty on Tuesday to one count of willfully violating the Consumer Product Safety Act for its failure to report dangerous defects in more than 33,000 portable air conditioners that have been linked to more than 40 fires and one death, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

  • August 05, 2025

    SEC Fines Platform Founder $10M Over Crypto-Backed Scam

    The owner of a shuttered lending platform has agreed to pay over $10 million to end a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case accusing him of defrauding customers by using their money to buy millions of dollars' worth of TerraUSD before the stablecoin collapsed.

  • August 05, 2025

    States Push DOJ To Crack Down On Illegal Offshore Gambling

    Attorneys general from several states have written a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice to target the "rampant spread" of illicit offshore online sports betting and gambling operations, which they say are harming United States citizens and depriving states of tax revenue.

  • August 05, 2025

    Trump-Tied SPAC Exec Rips SEC Suit After Deal Talks Fizzle

    The former CEO of the special-purpose acquisition company that took President Donald Trump's social media platform public has renewed his bid to dismiss the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit alleging he failed to timely alert investors to the prospective deal after settlement talks broke down.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ghislaine Maxwell Slams Feds' Bid To Unseal Grand Jury Docs

    Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking children for late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, urged a New York federal judge Tuesday to deny the government's bid to unseal grand jury transcripts, saying release of the sealed materials could jeopardize the appeal of her 2021 conviction.

  • August 05, 2025

    Disbarred North Carolina Atty Admits To Wire Fraud Scheme

    A disbarred lawyer in North Carolina has copped to criminal wire fraud charges stemming from the misuse of his trust account after federal prosecutors said he used escrow funds earmarked for the sale of personal protective equipment to pay back another company.

  • August 05, 2025

    Binance Founder Seeks Exit From FTX $1.76B Clawback Suit

    Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to dismiss him from a clawback suit filed by the estate of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX seeking to recover $1.76 billion it says FTX illegally transferred before its collapse two years ago, saying the transaction was outside the court's jurisdiction.

  • August 05, 2025

    Lottery.com SPAC Exec Wants Info From California Fraud Case

    A Manhattan federal judge said Tuesday that he will weigh a request by a special purpose acquisition company CEO accused of fraud in a merger involving Lottery.com Inc. to have New York prosecutors provide discovery from a California criminal case.

  • August 04, 2025

    Citibank Ignored Red Flags About $45M Wire Fraud, Suit Says

    Citibank failed to stop scammers from absconding with $45 million from a real estate property transaction when it processed payment orders even after it detected name mismatches between the identified transaction beneficiary and the account holder, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in California federal court. 

  • August 04, 2025

    Firms Not Covered In Ford's $100M RICO Suit, Insurer Says

    An insurer said it has no duty to defend or indemnify law firms and attorneys accused of running a billing scheme that defrauded Ford out of more than $100 million, telling a California federal court that the suit doesn't involve a claim arising out of the performance of legal services.

  • August 04, 2025

    Nurse Agrees To Repay $614K For False Claims In Conn.

    A nurse who owned a medication management business and two Connecticut residential care homes agreed on Monday to settle state and federal False Claims Act allegations for $614,000, ending allegations that he billed Medicare and Medicaid impossible daily hours and for clients that were hospitalized or dead.

  • August 04, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs FBI Agent's Bribery Sentence

    The D.C. Circuit Court has affirmed a former FBI special agent's two-year sentence for taking a bribe in connection with a property-buying scheme, finding that he accepted at least $6,500 from a real estate developer in exchange for illegally sharing information from a protected database to which the FBI subscribed.

  • August 04, 2025

    NY Atty Found Guilty Of Duping Lender Who Backed Lien Biz

    A Manhattan federal jury on Monday convicted a former compliance lawyer of pilfering from a $20 million line of credit extended to his tax-lien business by a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank.

  • August 04, 2025

    Mass. Ambulance Cos. Settle State FCA Allegations For $6M

    Two Massachusetts ambulance companies have agreed to pay $6 million to settle allegations that they "upcoded" claims to the state's Medicaid program, MassHealth, billed it for unnecessary services, and committed other False Claims Act violations, the state attorney general's office announced Monday.

  • August 04, 2025

    Funeral Home Owner Pleads Guilty To Fraud, Again

    For the second time, an owner of a southern Colorado funeral home pled guilty on Monday in connection to claims that her company illegally stored nearly 200 decaying bodies and committed more than $1 million in fraud.

  • August 04, 2025

    Plaintiff Bar Urges FINRA To Reject Industry's Arbitration Recs

    The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association on Monday urged the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to reject industry recommendations to loosen its arbitration rules, calling on the brokerage industry regulator to "resist pressure from industry groups seeking to dilute hard-won safeguards."

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Crunching The Numbers Of Trump SEC's 1st 100 Days

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    During the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought significantly fewer stand-alone enforcement actions than at the beginning of the Biden and the first Trump administrations, with every one of the federal court complaints including allegations of fraudulent conduct, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • AG Watch: Letitia James' Major Influence On Federal Litigation

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    While the multistate cases brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James appear to be based upon her interpretation of the effect of the Trump administration's policies on New York state and its residents, most also have a decidedly political tone to them, says Dennis Vacco at Lippes Mathias.

  • 3 Change Management Tools To Boost Compliance Efforts

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    As companies grapple with rapidly changing regulations and expectations, leaders charged with implementing their organizations’ compliance programs should look to change management principles to make the process less costly and more effective, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Understanding How Jurors Arrive At Punitive Damage Awards

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    Much of the rising trend of so-called thermonuclear verdicts can be tied to punitive damages amounts that astonish the imagination, so attorneys must understand the psychological underpinnings that drive jurors’ decision-making calculus on damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • DOJ Memo Maps Out A Lighter Touch For Digital Assets

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    A recent memo issued by the Justice Department signals a less aggressive approach toward the digital asset industry, with notable directives including disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, a higher evidentiary bar for unlicensed money transmitting, and prosecutions of individuals rather than platforms, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • Legal Ethics Considerations For Law Firm Pro Bono Deals

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    If a law firm enters into a pro bono deal with the Trump administration in exchange for avoiding or removing an executive order, it has an ethical obligation to create a written settlement agreement with specific terms, which would mitigate some potential conflict of interest problems, says Andrew Altschul at Buchanan Angeli.

  • Series

    Playing Football Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    While my football career ended over 15 years ago, the lessons the sport taught me about grit, accountability and resilience have stayed with me and will continue to help me succeed as an attorney, says Bert McBride at Trenam.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

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    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

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