New Jersey

Police: 2 men face DWI charges for planning to hide drunk-driving crash

Two New Jersey men, who planned to cover up a drunken-driving accident Saturday by pouring water on the frigid roadway, were foiled by a suspicious police officer, authorities say. When Sparta officer C.J. Grauerholz spotted a BMW standing in the middle of Sawmill Road in the wee hours with a…

Feb 17, 2015 2:55 PM CST

Judge requires return of $1.5M won by casino gamblers who detected something amiss

A New Jersey judge has ruled that 14 gamblers who capitalized on a card-shuffling issue to win $1.5 million from the Golden Nugget have to return the money. Judge Donna Taylor of Atlantic City ruled against the gamblers on Monday, the Associated Press reports. The gamblers had increased their bets…

Feb 13, 2015 11:50 AM CST

Judge: It is consumer fraud for therapists to call homosexuality a curable mental disorder

A New Jersey lawsuit against a group that referred individuals to therapists who claimed to be able to help clients change their sexual orientation won’t be tried before this summer. But a Tuesday ruling by the judge overseeing the case is being hailed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which…

Feb 11, 2015 2:10 PM CST

Still battling code-theft case, former Goldman Sachs programmer sues bank for legal fees

A former computer programmer for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ultimately prevailed in a federal prosecution over claims that he stole source code from his employer. But Sergey Aleynikov is still battling Goldman to obtain reimbursement for some $3 million he says he has expended in legal defense fees, reports Reuters.…

Feb 10, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Man to get 3 years for failing to secure gun used by his son, 4, to fatally shoot playmate

Corrected: A New Jersey man is expected to be sentenced to a three-year prison term Thursday for failing to secure a loaded .22-caliber rifle with which his 4-year-old son fatally shot a 6-year-old playmate in 2013. Anthony Senatore, 35, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of child endangerment related…

Feb 5, 2015 10:30 AM CST

Exec asked general counsel to pull up shirt but didn’t spot FBI body cam, news report says

An executive now federally charged in a New Jersey foreign-bribery case apparently feared that his general counsel might be recording device when the two met in 2012 at his Miami, Florida, condominium. But even after Joseph Sigelman asked attorney Gregory Weisman to pull up his shirt, Sigelman failed to spot…

Feb 4, 2015 2:20 PM CST

Law dean calls out sexism in evaluation of female prof, tells students to forgo ‘fashion advice’

The vice dean of Rutgers School of Law-Camden says the “sexism” label isn’t one that he readily uses. But he didn’t hesitate to make the call concerning an evaluation of a female professor at the school. Submitting a public critique, “that explored, in some detail, the fashion stylings of one…

Jan 30, 2015 9:45 AM CST

Dads sue New Jersey family court judges, claim ‘best interest of the child’ standard violates rights

A would-be class action lawsuit filed by six fathers claims New Jersey family court judges are unconstitutionally depriving plaintiffs of child custody by using a “best interest of the child” standard. The amended lawsuit was filed last week after U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson granted a motion to dismiss on…

Jan 28, 2015 8:14 AM CST

Many courts close early Monday, plan to stay shuttered Tuesday as predicted monster snowstorm looms

As snow began falling Monday in what is forecast as a potential record-breaking blizzard in the Northeast, court officials joined those in charge of schools and other government offices in declaring an anticipatory shutdown. Amidst airport and school closings and warnings against unnecessary travel, a number of Boston and New…

Jan 26, 2015 4:50 PM CST

Judges who dined with indicted friend violated revised ethics rule, court says

Two New Jersey judges who attended church dinners that included an indicted friend created an appearance of impropriety, but should not be disciplined, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled. The state supreme court adopted a new, objective standard to judge the appearance of propriety and found it was violated…

Jan 22, 2015 11:40 AM CST

Lawyer who duped investors with fake Facebook stock gets 46 months

A New Jersey lawyer didn’t have access to Facebook shares before the company’s 2012 initial public offering, yet he managed to get more than $4 million from two people who thought that he could sell it to them. Attorney Fred Todd, 61, received a 46-month federal sentence Wednesday, according to…

Jan 22, 2015 11:22 AM CST

Fired Simpson Thacher managing clerk is indicted, accused of surfing firm computers for merger info

A fired former managing clerk for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is now front and center in a federal insider-trading case over a scheme that allegedly earned $5.6 million in illegal profits on $33 million in stock purchases. Steven Metro, 40, was indicted (PDF) Thursday by a federal jury in Trenton,…

Jan 16, 2015 7:30 AM CST

Lawyer indicted in mortgage-fraud case, accused of using another attorney’s identity on closing docs

A New Jersey real estate lawyer was indicted Wednesday along with 11 co-defendants, accused of participating in a mortgage-fraud scheme that obtained bank loans totalling nearly $1 million to purchase three properties by providing false information to lenders. The claimed scheme involved residential properties purchased at discounted prices in short…

Jan 15, 2015 3:35 PM CST

Lawyer persuades jury that accused bank robber, 66, simply wanted to open an account

A 66-year-old man who was convicted of burglary a decade ago didn’t rob a New Jersey bank in 2013, a jury decided Tuesday. After two hours of deliberation, the six-man, six-woman panel acquitted Henry Kidd, apparently persuaded by his lawyer’s argument that Kidd had simply been trying to open an…

Jan 13, 2015 3:30 PM CST

Accused bank robber, 66, was simply trying to open an account, his lawyer argues

A 66-year-old man wasn’t trying to rob a Trenton, New Jersey, bank when he walked up to a teller window and put his hand in his pocket on Oct. 4, 2013. Henry Kidd Sr. just wanted to open an account so he could arrange to have his Social Security checks…

Jan 12, 2015 5:30 PM CST