White Collar Crime

Recent law grad charged with Dewey leaders will be dropped from case

A recent law graduate of Georgetown University who was criminally charged in 2014 along with three former leaders of the now-shuttered Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm has won a reprieve. Under a deferred prosecution agreement, no case will be pursued against Zachary Warren so long as he performs 350 hours…

Feb 16, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Saga of law firm chief’s $1.2B fraud to end with auction of home, yacht, $550K watch and other bling

Not quite six years after Scott Rothstein began serving a 50-year federal prison term under the witness protection program, the saga of the massive Ponzi scheme he operated while at the helm of a prominent South Florida law firm is nearing a conclusion. In April, some $10 million in jewelry…

Feb 16, 2016 3:05 PM CST

2nd trial begins for ex-prosecutor accused of siphoning $52M from elderly woman’s trust

A former prosecutor who took over a lucrative trust practice from his father’s estate is now facing a second trial in one of the biggest alleged frauds in Alaska history. Initially sentenced to eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to 15 felonies, Mark James Avery successfully appealed his…

Feb 11, 2016 3:00 PM CST

Former general counsel gets 18 months for stealing $2.6M from company account

A former in-house counsel for a New Jersey home health care company was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for stealing over $2.6 million from his ex-employer and failing to report taxable income to the U.S. government. Matthew Neugeboren, 39, pleaded guilty in May to wire fraud and…

Feb 10, 2016 12:15 PM CST

Immigration lawyer gets 21 months for trying to help client disobey court order, flee US

A California immigration lawyer was sentenced Monday to 21 months in federal prison for trying to help a client who was a material witness in a “birth tourism” case leave the country. Prosecutors said Ken Zhiyi Liang, 39, accepted $6,000 from the Chinese woman to help her get out of…

Feb 9, 2016 1:50 PM CST

Ex-BigLaw partner is convicted of insider trading; feds say he misused deal info overheard at firm

After four days of trial and less than four hours of deliberation, a former real estate partner of Fox Rothschild was convicted of insider trading Friday by a federal jury in Philadelphia. Herbert Sudfeld Jr. was also convicted of making false statements to the FBI, reports the Legal Intelligencer (sub.…

Feb 8, 2016 2:20 PM CST

High-paid city attorney is accused of securing bribes for city officials to approve his contract

A San Antonio lawyer is accused in a federal indictment of securing bribes for top Crystal City, Texas, officials in exchange for a lucrative contract to serve as both city manager and city attorney. The lawyer, William James Jonas III, defended his high salary of $216,000 last fall, the San…

Feb 5, 2016 9:51 AM CST

Will those who led the financial system into crisis ever face charges?

In 2005, when the impending financial crisis was obvious to some and under the radar to many, Bill Black published a book laying out his theory of control fraud, his criminological term for looting a corporation from the inside. Read this ABA Journal feature recently honored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

Feb 1, 2016 4:10 AM CST

Disbarred lawyer gets 30 days after pleading no contest to theft of blind client’s $400K inheritance

After getting an inheritance of more than $400,000 after her mother died in 2008, Janet Stites decided to have a lawyer, Timothy Darden, put the money into two trusts. Instead, the California attorney stole the inheritance from Stites, she says—and, when she and another client complained to state bar authorities,…

Jan 25, 2016 2:15 PM CST

After mistrial in client extortion case, 2 law partners take plea involving no prison time

A former county bar association president and his law partner in a Youngstown, Ohio, firm have avoided prison time in a federal case over claimed extortion of a client convenience store owner. Originally charged with extortion and obstruction of justice, among other crimes, defendant attorneys Scott Cochran and Neal Atway…

Jan 20, 2016 4:45 PM CST

Lawyers were among victims of ‘career fabulist’ sentenced in 2nd fraud case, news report says

Despite a 2006 bank fraud conviction, a man described by federal prosecutors as a “career fabulist” involved in a series of Ponzi-like schemes seems to have had little difficulty persuading new victims to fund his lavish lifestyle. Although sentenced Tuesday to 55 months in his second felony fraud case, over…

Jan 20, 2016 1:25 PM CST

SCOTUS accepts insider trading case involving passed tips; does tipper have to get tangible benefit?

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the insider trading conviction of an Illinois man who received confidential information from the brother of a former investment banker. The court agreed to hear the case of Bassam Salman on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reports. At issue is whether the corporate insider…

Jan 19, 2016 10:12 AM CST

Supreme Court agrees to hear former governor’s corruption appeal; did he take ‘official action’?

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell was wrongly convicted under federal laws that bar taking “official action” in exchange for something of value. The court agreed to hear the case on Friday, report the Washington Post, the National Law Journal (sub. req.),…

Jan 19, 2016 7:17 AM CST

Former top federal prosecutor takes plea after alleged $613K theft from convicted ex-client

A former top federal prosecutor in Connecticut pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Thursday, after being accused of stealing over $600,000 from an ex-client convicted in a racketeering case the government said was linked to organized crime. As the ex-client served time for conspiring to fix prices in the trash-hauling…

Jan 15, 2016 11:20 AM CST

Attorney takes plea deal in marijuana ‘grow house’ case

A Raleigh, North Carolina, attorney accused of playing a role in a marijuana “grow house” operation and using his law office to help prepare fraudulent applications for bank loans has taken a plea deal. Joseph Lee Levinson pleaded guilty Friday to a federal conspiracy count concerning false statements made to…

Jan 12, 2016 2:15 PM CST