Afternoon Briefs: District attorney hints of broader Trump probe; ex-ABA president is new dean
President Donald Trump. Photo from Shutterstock.com.
DA may be investigating Trump for possible bank fraud
A legal filing suggests that President Donald Trump and his company could be under investigation for possible bank and insurance fraud. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance filed the memorandum of law Monday in Trump’s fight against a subpoena for financial records from his accounting firm. The case is back in federal district court after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump isn’t automatically immune from criminal subpoenas. The filing said Trump’s argument that the subpoena is overbroad relies on the false premise that a grand jury is only investigating hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The filing cites a prior district court decision in the case referencing a prosecutor’s declaration that a variety of investigations are ongoing, including “investigations by multiple other New York regulatory authorities concerning alleged insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization and its officers.” (The New York Times, Axios, the Aug. 3 filing)
Former ABA president is new law school dean
Former ABA President William C. Hubbard became the new dean of the University of South Carolina School of Law on Aug. 1. Hubbard is leaving his partnership at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough for the new job. He replaces Rob Wilcox, who will remain on the faculty. Hubbard says it’s critical that 1Ls attend classes in person during the COVID-19 pandemic, and he is planning to do that safely with socially distanced classes in which professors but not students change classrooms. Other students will attend some but not all classes in person. (SCNow, University of South Carolina press release)
Justice Ginsburg is released from hospital
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital Friday after undergoing a procedure to revise a bile duct stent. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said Ginsburg, 87, was home and doing well. It was the second time that Ginsburg was hospitalized in July in connection with the stent. The first time Ginsburg had a possible infection, and the stent was cleaned out. She also announced in July that she was receiving chemotherapy for liver cancer, and the treatment was “yielding positive results.” (The Associated Press, Bloomberg Law)
9th Circuit tosses Stormy Daniels’ libel suit against Trump
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld dismissal of adult film star Stormy Daniels’ libel suit against President Donald Trump. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco said Daniels couldn’t sue over Trump’s expression of opinion and “rhetorical hyperbole.” Daniels had sued over Trump’s tweet about her sketch of a man said to have threatened her after she reached a deal to tell her story about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump. Trump had tweeted: “A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!” (Law360, Courthouse News Service, Politico)
