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White Collar

  • May 28, 2025

    1st Circ. Revives Hedge Fund Priest's SEC Fee Bid

    A Greek Orthodox priest and hedge fund founder who partially defeated an SEC suit at trial will have his request the agency pay his attorney fees reconsidered following a First Circuit ruling that a lower court should consider the gap between the SEC's requested relief and the relief it obtained.

  • May 28, 2025

    SEC Says Florida Adviser Targeted Catholics In $17.3M Fraud

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused a former investment adviser and his two Florida companies of misappropriating $17.3 million from dozens of clients, including elderly individuals and Catholic dioceses in Venezuela.

  • May 28, 2025

    Regeneron Urges Judge In FCA Kickback Suit To Set Trial Date

    Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Wednesday pressed a Massachusetts federal judge to ready a long-running False Claims Act suit for a jury and reject the government's second bid for a pretrial win under a different legal theory following a First Circuit setback.

  • May 28, 2025

    Stay Won't Be Lifted On Claims Over $93M Real Estate Fraud

    Victims of a $93 million Miami real estate development scheme won't be able to pursue their claims — at least for now — against the company's former CEO after a Florida federal judge on Wednesday denied their request to lift a stay on litigation during a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission receivership.

  • May 28, 2025

    Execs Smuggled Billions In Goods To Skirt Duties, Feds Say

    Two California shipping company executives have been charged with smuggling billions of dollars' worth of goods from the United States into Mexico — avoiding millions of dollars in duties to Mexico — using bogus documents, shell companies, bribes to public officials and kickbacks to drug cartels.

  • May 28, 2025

    French Duo Can't Escape SEC's $40M Real Estate Fraud Suit

    Two French half-brothers whom the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused of misappropriating $40 million from investors in a real estate investment fraud scheme lost their bid to get the suit tossed, with a Florida federal judge ruling Wednesday that the investment contracts at issue in the suit qualify as securities.

  • May 28, 2025

    Cannabis Cos. Eye High Court Review After 1st Circ. Decision

    The First Circuit's decision upholding the dismissal of a splashy federal case challenging the national ban on marijuana was all but inevitable given the controlling case law on the issue, which can only be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts and cannabis attorneys told ¼«ËÙÈü³µ.

  • May 28, 2025

    Amtrak Worker Admits To Part In $11M Benefits Fraud Scheme

    A New Jersey-based Amtrak employee has pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to defraud the passenger railroad's health plan for an estimated $11 million in benefits, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced Wednesday.

  • May 28, 2025

    'ComEd Four' Denied New Trial After High Court Ruling

    An Illinois federal judge on Wednesday denied a motion by Commonwealth Edison Co.'s former CEO and lobbyists to throw out their corruption convictions in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court false-statement ruling, saying the jury made a "reasonable call" that they falsified internal records to hide the steering of benefits to ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

  • May 28, 2025

    Sens. Urge Treasury To Rescind Ownership Reporting Rule

    A bipartisan duo from the Senate Finance Committee has urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to fully implement the Corporate Transparency Act, criticizing an interim final rule that exempts domestic businesses from contested reporting regulations.

  • May 28, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says Pot Smell Needs Link To Suspect For Search

    A Third Circuit panel on Wednesday found that the smell of cannabis alone is not enough to establish probable cause to arrest or search a person unless it can be linked by the arresting officer to the suspect.

  • May 28, 2025

    Security Exec Gets $20K Fine For Rigging DOD Contracts

    A former executive with a Belgian security company pled guilty to antitrust violations Wednesday in D.C. federal court, receiving a sentence of probation and a $20,000 fine for conspiring with rivals to rig bids for U.S. Department of Defense contracts in Belgium.

  • May 28, 2025

    DOJ Says Justices' Ruling Backs Nursing Exec's Conviction

    The U.S. Department of Justice is pointing to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to bolster its fight against a new trial being sought by a convicted Nevada nursing home executive, saying that the new high court decision establishes that economic loss isn't needed to prove wire fraud.

  • May 28, 2025

    Ohio Exec Pleads Guilty In Ponzi Scheme Investigation

    A Toledo, Ohio, investment firm executive has copped to a role in a purported Ponzi scheme that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said bilked investors out of $72 million.

  • May 28, 2025

    Vt. Judge To Order Release Of Harvard Researcher

    A Vermont federal judge on Wednesday said a Harvard Medical School researcher and Russian national accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States is entitled to release from immigration custody while she challenges her detention.

  • May 28, 2025

    IUOE Ex-Leader Pardoned In DOL Disclosure Case, Attys Say

    President Donald Trump has pardoned a former International Union of Operating Engineers president who was facing the prospect of six months in prison for accepting free sports tickets without disclosing their value to the U.S. Department of Labor, his attorneys told a Washington, D.C., federal judge Wednesday.

  • May 28, 2025

    4th Circ. Backs 5-Year Sentence In $9.3M Ponzi Scheme

    The Fourth Circuit stood by a lower court's decision to imprison a North Carolina man for 63 months after he pled guilty to wire fraud and "use of manipulative and deceptive devices," concluding that the sentence is not unreasonable and was ordered after proper consideration of the public interest.

  • May 28, 2025

    One Convicted For Role In €195M VAT Fraud Scheme

    A Munich court convicted a man for his role in a value-added tax fraud scheme that spanned 17 countries and caused an estimated €195 million ($220 million) in damages, the European Public Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday.

  • May 28, 2025

    DC Circ. Denies Steve Bannon's Bid For En Banc Rehearing

    Right-wing media figure Steve Bannon, who was a chief strategist during the first Trump administration, has been rebuffed in his bid for an en banc rehearing at the D.C. Circuit on his contempt of Congress conviction, a move his legal team deemed "overriding politicalization."

  • May 28, 2025

    Ga. Bank Wins Appellate Review Of Claim Against Law Firm

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has agreed to review a dismissed portion of a bank's suit against law firm Stanley Esrey & Buckley LLP, after the bank argued it had sufficiently explained that it loaned millions of dollars to a woman who was later convicted of fraud based on the firm's "false assurances."

  • May 28, 2025

    Ex-Benghazi Investigator Sworn In As Interim NorCal US Atty

    A longtime Los Angeles attorney and former investigator into the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans was appointed on Tuesday as interim U.S. attorney in California's Northern District, where he'll be allowed to serve up to 120 days pending Senate confirmation.

  • May 28, 2025

    Trump Nominates Ex-Personal Atty Emil Bove For 3rd Circ.

    President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he is nominating Emil Bove, his former criminal defense attorney who served as acting deputy attorney general, for the Third Circuit.

  • May 28, 2025

    $8M Penalty Sought In Par Funding Exec's Racketeering Case

    A cash advance company's ex-financial officer, who once worked as both an accountant and a competitive food eater, should pay $8 million to the federal government after admitting he helped run a $404 million racketeering scheme, federal prosecutors told a Pennsylvania court.

  • May 27, 2025

    OneTaste Co-Founder Tells Jury Of Group's Pressure Tactics

    The co-founder and former chief operating officer of OneTaste on Tuesday testified that he and ex-CEO Nicole Daedone manipulated adherents of the sexual wellness company's teachings and described how psychological pressure was used to keep workers in line, as the trial of its former top executive and the head of sales entered its third week. 

  • May 27, 2025

    Judge Taps Attys To Lead Ex-UMich Coach Hacking Suits

    Eight lawsuits accusing the University of Michigan of failing to safeguard the private images and data of thousands of student-athletes from a former assistant football coach have been consolidated by a federal judge, who also appointed interim lead counsel.

Expert Analysis

  • 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

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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.

  • Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing

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    After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Terraform Case May Be Bellwether For Crypto Enforcement

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    The prosecution of crypto company Terraform Labs and its CEO, Do Kwon, offers a unique test of the line between lawful and unlawful conduct in digital transactions, and the Trump administration’s posture toward the case will provide clues about its cryptocurrency enforcement agenda in the years to come, say attorneys at Brooks Pierce.

  • What's Next For Russia Sanctions After Task Force Disbanded

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    Attorney General Pam Bondi’s recent disbanding of Task Force KleptoCapture, which was initially aimed at seizing Russian oligarchs’ funds and assets, is unlikely to mean the end of Russia sanctions enforcement and other economic countermeasures, as the architecture for criminal enforcement remains in place, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • How Law Firms Can Counteract The Loneliness Epidemic

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    The legal industry is facing an urgent epidemic of loneliness, affecting lawyer well-being, productivity, retention and profitability, and law firm leaders should take concrete steps to encourage the development of genuine workplace connections, says Michelle Gomez at Littler and Gwen Mellor Romans at Herald Talent.

  • What Remedies Under New Admin's SEC Could Look Like

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to substantially narrow the remedies it pursues over the next few years, driven by the mounting challenges it faces in court, as well as the views of its incoming chair and fellow Republican commissioners on injunctions, penalties and disgorgement, say attorneys at Milbank.

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