Administrative Law

Madoff Aides Talk to Feds, as Some Call for International Financial Court

As a plea deal in the federal criminal case against Bernard Madoff appears imminent, several people who worked for him reportedly are talking with prosecutors about how he allegedly operated a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Under proffer agreements protecting them from prosecution if they tell the truth, two assistants told…

Mar 10, 2009 12:03 AM CDT

Whole Foods Settles Antitrust Case, Agrees to Sell 32 Wild Oats Stores

The Federal Trade Commission’s longtime effort to unravel the purchase of Wild Oats by Whole Foods has ended in a settlement. Whole Foods has agreed to sell 32 of 74 Wild Oats groceries, restoring competition in 17 geographic areas, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. Several of the…

Mar 6, 2009 4:28 PM CST

Why Supreme Court OK’d Suits Over Drug Labels, But Not Medical Devices

Companies arguing that their federally regulated products are not subject to state court lawsuits could face difficulties absent an express congressional pronouncement after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday in a drug labeling case. The decision in Wyeth v. Levine, which refused to shield drug companies from lawsuits over their…

Mar 5, 2009 2:14 PM CST

Will Ex-Judge Press On With $54M Pants Suit Case? Supreme Court Is Last Resort

After losing Monday a request for an en banc rehearing before the entire Washington, D.C., District Court of Appeals, Roy Pearson Jr.’s infamous $54 million “pants suit” claim may be running out of steam. His only hope, at this point, is that the U.S. Supreme Court will grant certiorari, should…

Mar 4, 2009 10:23 PM CST

Supreme Court Rules Labels Don’t Shield Drug Companies from Suits

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that pharmaceutical companies aren’t protected from lawsuits because their warning labels are approved by the federal government. The court ruled in a 6-3 decision that approval of drug labeling by the Food and Drug Administration does not pre-empt state court lawsuits over insufficient warnings,…

Mar 4, 2009 3:50 PM CST

Debt Collectors Find the Dead Can Be More Lucrative Than the Living

Often, the living have no obligation to pay the debts of dead relatives. But a growing legion of sympathetic debt collectors is seeking to persuade them to do so. With the help of today’s database technology, it’s relatively easy to determine when an estate is opened in any of the…

Mar 4, 2009 4:29 AM CST

Bernanke: ‘Huge Gap’ Allowed AIG ‘Hedge Fund,’ Costing US Up to $200B

Testifying today at a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the financial products division of major insurance company had been operated like a hedge fund with virtually no government oversight. The fact that American International Group Inc. then had to be rescued with…

Mar 3, 2009 5:54 PM CST

Feds Ignored Loan Problems at Failing IndyMac, Treasury Report Says

The federal Office of Thrift Supervision ignored inflated appraisals and lax lending standards that led to the failure of California-based IndyMac Bancorp, according to a report by the U.S. Treasury Department’s inspector general. And that failure cost the taxpayer-funded Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $10.7 billion, writes the Los Angeles Times.…

Feb 27, 2009 1:42 AM CST

Posner Writes Book Questioning His Free-Market Views, and Keeps on Writing

Judge Richard Posner has written a new book questioning his own free-market views, but he’s finding it difficult to let go of the project. Posner, a judge with the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, originally finished the manuscript Jan. 30, The Boston Globe’s Brainiac blog reports. But he…

Feb 26, 2009 4:15 PM CST

Why Didn’t SEC Move Faster in Stanford Case, Law Prof Wonders

What did the feds know about the operations of R. Allen Stanford, and when did the feds know it? That is essentially the question on the mind of law professor Peter Henning of Wayne State University. Writing in the DealBook blog of the New York Times today, he ponders parallels…

Feb 23, 2009 7:14 PM CST

Madoff Made No Trades for Perhaps 13 Years, Trustee Says

A whistleblower who pointed the finger at alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme architect Bernard Madoff for many years before he was criminally charged claimed that Madoff’s claimed hedge fund investment profits didn’t conform with options market trading records. Now the trustee who is winding up Madoff’s securities firm says there…

Feb 20, 2009 7:42 PM CST

How Obama Hopes to Kick-Start Securitization

The Obama administration hopes to boost securitization with a program of up to $1 trillion in low-cost loans and guarantees to the hedge funds and private equity firms that buy bundled consumer and business loans. Banks have been reluctant to issue new loans because they are unable to wipe their…

Feb 20, 2009 1:04 PM CST

Stanford Employee Says He Was Forced Out After Questioning CD Returns

A Miami broker who worked for the Texas billionaire accused in an $8 billion fraud says he was forced to resign in 2003 after he raised questions about the returns on certificates of deposit now at the heart of a civil complaint. Charles Hazlett had been a top salesman for…

Feb 20, 2009 12:32 PM CST

SEC Looked Into Stanford CDs in 2005; Why Didn’t Feds Act Sooner in $8B Case?

In 2005, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent letters to holders of certificates of deposit at Stanford International Bank of Antigua, seeking information about how the instruments had been marketed. And, as two former brokers for R. Allen Stanford contend in a lawsuit they filed in January 2008, they…

Feb 19, 2009 12:38 AM CST

Where is Billionaire Defendant, Following SEC Lawsuit?

Where is a 58-year-old Texas billionaire accused by securities regulators in civil litigation yesterday of operating a massive investment fraud? The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the federal lawsuit in Dallas over $8 billion in certificates of deposit sold under dubious representations by a bank affiliated with his Stanford…

Feb 18, 2009 5:45 PM CST