Florida

Former law firm CFO charged in $1.2B swindle is 18th to face a criminal case, feds say

The former chief financial officer of a defunct South Florida law firm has been charged with a role in the $1.2 billion swindle for which its former managing partner Scott Rothstein is now serving a 50-year federal prison sentence. Irene Shannon, 50, who was formerly known as Irene Stay, faces…

Apr 16, 2014 8:55 PM CDT

Ethics complaint alleges lawyer billed NCAA for her whistleblower client’s bankruptcy depositions

A Florida lawyer is accused of violating several ethics rules for charging the NCAA for depositions in the personal and business bankruptcy of a client who wanted to blow the whistle on NCAA rule violations. According to the ethics complaint (PDF), lawyer Maria Elena Perez offered to gather information for…

Apr 16, 2014 11:20 AM CDT

11th Circuit nixes immunity for sheriff’s officers who recorded attorney-client conversation

Upholding an earlier summary judgment ruling by a trial judge, a federal appeals court has held that two Florida law enforcement officers who secretly watched and recorded an attorney-client meeting violated the Fourth Amendment and can be held liable in a federal civil rights suit. Rejecting a qualified immunity argument,…

Apr 11, 2014 10:50 AM CDT

Charged in 10 slayings, claimed drug cartel hit man admitted to dozens, authorities say

A man who claims he to have killed up to 40 people while working as an enforcer for a drug cartel over a period of more than 30 years has been charged in one slaying in Alabama, plus another nine in California. Authorities believe that Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, is…

Apr 10, 2014 7:05 PM CDT

Attorney who complained to state AGs about law firm is now herself facing scrutiny

A Kentucky lawyer who wrote the attorney general’s office in 40 states expressing concern about the operations of a Florida law firm for which she formerly worked is now herself facing a legal ethics case over similar allegations. Michele Stephens got a letter (PDF) last week from the disciplinary board…

Apr 9, 2014 10:45 PM CDT

Son whose testimony helped mom beat murder charge is a witness in her new case over his own shooting

More than two decades ago, when Kevin Cooney was 11 years old, he testified on his mother’s behalf in a Florida first-degree murder trial. Linda Cooney was acquitted in the death of her husband, James Cooney, who she said she had shot in self-defense when he attacked her at home…

Apr 8, 2014 8:30 PM CDT

Lawyer who owes $35M in litigation debt says he has the cases to cover it

A Florida personal injury lawyer with a lot of debt also has the big cases, and, as the Tampa Bay Times puts it, “a seeming inability to lose,” that will help him pay it all off. Barry Cohen, 74, admits he isn’t thrilled about the $35 million or so the…

Apr 8, 2014 5:55 PM CDT

Amidst ‘epidemic’ of tax-refund claims using stolen IDs, feds charge 25 in $36M fraud

Amidst what a top federal prosecutor calls an epidemic of fraudulent filings for federal income tax refunds under stolen identities, a strike force in South Florida has charged 25 individuals in 19 cases involving $36 million in fraud. The defendants include a jail guard accused of stealing the identities of…

Apr 3, 2014 8:04 PM CDT

Estate dispute caused by ‘E-Z Legal Form’ is a ‘cautionary tale,’ says justice

Ann Aldrich used an “E-Z Legal Form” when she made out her will in 2004, a decision that proved to be a good choice for two nieces who cited the document’s lack of a residuary clause. In a decision issued last week, the Florida Supreme Court ruled for the nieces,…

Apr 3, 2014 4:34 PM CDT

Worker mistakes woman’s body for April 1 prank, is fired but not criminally charged

When a desk clerk at a Florida senior housing complex took a smoke break and spotted a shape on the ground in the wee hours on Wednesday, he assumed the body was an April Fool’s Day joke. In fact, the body was real, but that wasn’t discovered until hours later.…

Apr 3, 2014 3:40 PM CDT

Longtime lawyer gets 10 years for his role in $1B Mutual Benefits investment scam

A longtime South Florida lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a $1 billion insurance investment scam. Anthony M. Livoti Jr. could have gotten as much as 80 years, and the prosecution in the Mutual Benefits Corp. case sought at least 30 years.…

Apr 1, 2014 6:45 PM CDT

Missing couple is accused of collecting welfare while living large; $60K allegedly went for massages

A missing couple has been charged in Minnesota with collecting welfare benefits even as they purchased a yacht and lived in a $1.6 million home. Andrea and Colin Chisholm are accused of collecting $167,000 in medical and food-stamp benefits from Minnesota, using about $60,000 of the money to pay for…

Mar 28, 2014 3:31 PM CDT

Tearful runaway real estate lawyer gets 5 years in $5.9M client theft

A Florida real estate lawyer who made international headlines when he suddenly disappeared last year, leading to the revelation of a massive client theft, faced the consequences Wednesday. Timothy McCabe, 56, was sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge in West Palm Beach and ordered to pay…

Mar 19, 2014 9:40 PM CDT

Swallowing anonymous tip in court gets Crime Stoppers chief cited for contempt

Ordered by a Florida judge Friday to hand over an anonymous tip that led to a cocaine possession case, the executive director of Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers instead swallowed the evidence right in the courtroom. That resulted in a contempt citation against Richard Masten, who could get as much as two…

Mar 17, 2014 6:40 PM CDT

Facial recognition database leads feds to fugitive 37 years after prison escape

A man who escaped from federal prison in Kansas in 1977 while serving a 23-year sentence for a premeditated murder and aggravated assault committed while he was a U.S. Army private was arrested in Florida on Thursday. James Robert Jones was tracked down, nearly 37 years later, after the Army…

Mar 14, 2014 4:45 PM CDT