2nd Circuit Court

Neighbor of chief federal prosecutor faces graffiti charge for tagging boundary fence

An 82-year-old neighbor of a federal prosecutor in New York City is facing a graffiti charge for tagging a boundary fence between their properties. However, a lawyer for Sylvia Kordower-Zetlin said his client was simply protecting herself against a potential adverse-possession claim when she marked the fence, reports the New…

Aug 18, 2014 3:40 PM CDT

After billionaire ex-client testifies, man who sold $20M in fake French wine gets 10 years

Many of the super-rich who collectively spent over $30 million on fake wine vintages sold to them by a single individual don’t want the publicity involved in admitting they were cheated. But billionaire William Koch isn’t among them. An avid wine collector, he has spent millions in efforts to collect…

Aug 7, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Ex-BigLaw partner gets 6 months in massive tax-shelter case, must help pay $220M restitution

A former partner of Jenkens & Gilchrist was sentenced last week to six months in federal prison and ordered to help pay $220 million in restitution, along with two co-defendant ex-partners in the Chicago office of the now-defunct law firm. Erwin Mayer had faced as much as 10 years in…

Aug 4, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Cross-shaped beam found in 9/11 rubble may be displayed in Ground Zero museum, 2nd Circuit says

A federal appeals court has found no establishment clause violation in the government’s museum display of a cross-shaped beam found in the World Trade Center rubble after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its opinion (PDF) on Monday that the…

Jul 29, 2014 3:19 PM CDT

Defense lawyers say feds’ refusal to screen inmate-attorney email frustrates right to counsel

Because of budgetary and time constraints, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have discontinued a once-common practice of having firewall lawyers screen inmate email to weed out communications between defendants and their lawyers before prosecutors could view them. That has led to an ongoing dispute between defense lawyers and the U.S. Attorney’s…

Jul 22, 2014 9:20 PM CDT

Cellphone call helped make stock manipulation case against corporate lawyer, FBI says

A corporate lawyer in Nevada is among seven defendants federally indicted Thursday in Brooklyn, New York, in a claimed “pump-and-dump” scheme involving microcap stock. Attorney Kyleen Cane is accused of playing a role in an alleged plan to artificially inflate the share price in the stock of a company known…

Jul 18, 2014 3:32 PM CDT

Apple OKs high-low settlement of as little as zero and as much as $400M in e-book price-fixing case

Faced with ongoing federal antitrust litigation contending that Apple Inc. conspired with publishers to fix the prices of e-books, the company insists that it did nothing wrong. However, Apple has nonetheless agreed to a high-low settlement of the case, contingent on what happens in a pending federal appeal, according to…

Jul 16, 2014 5:59 PM CDT

Lawyer sued by Judge Judy over TV ads says stations urged him to participate

Sued by Judge Judy over alleged unauthorized use of the famed TV-show jurist’s likeness in a video clip, a Connecticut lawyer says he simply participated in an advertising program when asked to do so by local stations. John Haymond says he is a fan of Judy Scheindlin’s show and was…

Jul 14, 2014 5:55 PM CDT

Younger brother of Raj Rajaratnam is acquitted in insider-trading trial

Hedge fund co-founder Raj Rajaratnam made headlines several years ago after being convicted in a high-profile insider-trading trial, sentenced to a then-record 11-year prison term and ordered to pay more than $90 million in restitution and civil and criminal penalties. On Tuesday his younger brother, Rengan Rajaratnam, made headlines for…

Jul 8, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Prove GM fraud on court, if you can, bankruptcy judge tells lawyers in ignition-switch cases

Plaintiffs lawyers in dozens of cases filed against General Motors Co. over the diminished value of vehicles because of ignition-switch recalls have been arguing that a bankruptcy-court bar to such liability prior to 2009 should not apply. That’s because GM allegedly knew about the defect and didn’t disclose it to…

Jul 3, 2014 5:50 PM CDT

Lawmaker lied to FBI about son’s law firm job, feds say; did lobby group fund son’s $50K raise?

A powerful longtime New York state lawmaker was federally indicted Tuesday on a single count of making false statements to the FBI concerning a job prosecutors say he helped his son get with a well-known Westchester County attorney’s law firm. Sen. Thomas Libous, 61, who serves as deputy Republican leader,…

Jul 2, 2014 6:25 PM CDT

Former BigLaw partner gets 15 years in $8B tax-shelter case

A former tax practice chief who brought down his BigLaw firm by masterminding what prosecutors described as a fraudulent $8 billion tax-shelter scheme was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years by a federal judge in Manhattan. Calling Paul Daugerdas “a tax-shelter racketeer who tapped into the incredible greed of some of…

Jun 25, 2014 10:10 PM CDT

Madoff’s former accountant takes plea, will be 15th defendant convicted for role in $17.5B sheme

A former accountant for Bernard Madoff has taken a plea concerning his role in the massive hedge-fund-investment-scheme swindle for which Madoff himself is now serving a 150-year federal prison sentence. Paul Konigsberg, 78, who was formerly the senior tax partner of Konigsberg Wolf & Co., pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal…

Jun 24, 2014 5:05 PM CDT

‘Lawful conduct of war’ analysis in DOJ memo justified killing of US citizen in Yemen

The September 2011 killing of a U.S. citizen in Yemen in a targeted drone strike was determined to be justified, in a prior U.S. Department of Justice legal memo, as “lawful conduct of war.” Released Monday in a redacted version by the DOJ, the memo says the strike was authorized…

Jun 23, 2014 7:59 PM CDT

Are federal prosecutors reading inmates’ emails to their attorneys? Memo suggests answer may be yes

A judge has ordered federal prosecutors in Brooklyn to stop reading a high-profile New York prison inmate’s email to his attorney, at least for now. A lawyer for a reputed crime boss awaiting trial in an extortion case told U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross last week about a memo from…

Jun 17, 2014 3:00 PM CDT