Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane ordered to stand trial on leak charges

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been ordered to stand trial on charges that she leaked secret grand jury information to the press in an effort to embarrass a political rival. Kane, 49, did not speak to reporters as she left a courthouse in suburban Philadelphia Monday following a hearing…

Aug 25, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Dallas lawyer sentenced to prison for defrauding vodka investors

A Dallas lawyer who collected nearly $1.6 million from investors for a vodka that didn’t exist has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Andrew Lee Siegel, 54, had pleaded guilty earlier to investor fraud and copyright infringement charges, the Dallas Morning News reports. Siegel has also…

Aug 24, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Once-secret brief filed by federal prosecutors details scheme to defraud Vegas HOAs

Now that 42 defendants have been convicted in a federal corruption case over a scheme to fleece Las Vegas area homeowners associations of millions of dollars, prosecutors have released a brief filed under seal. It provides new details about the scheme operated by convicted mastermind Leon Benzer, a former construction…

Aug 20, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Former CEO of red-light camera vendor takes plea in Chicago bribery case

The former CEO of a camera vendor that used to run Chicago’s controversial red-light traffic camera system has taken a plea in a federal bribery case. Karen Finley, 55, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning some $2 million in cash, vacations and an Arizona…

Aug 20, 2015 3:35 PM CDT

University to pay $480K to remove convicted embezzler’s name from stadium scoreboard

In 2009, using money swindled from investors in a Ponzi scheme, a former football star at California Polytechnic State University paid $625,000 to put his name on a scoreboard at the school’s Alex G. Spanos Stadium, prosecutors said. Following Al Moriarty’s conviction in a $22 million swindle that victimized a…

Aug 20, 2015 1:25 PM CDT

Lawyer is charged in federal drug case; judge appoints public defender

A Georgia criminal defense lawyer has been federally indicted in a drug-distribution case after police say she sold drugs to undercover agents. Arraigned Monday in Macon after the unsealing of the Aug. 11 indictment, Holly Hogue Edwards, 35, is accused of distributing oxycodone and methamphetamine, the Telegraph reports. Edwards was…

Aug 17, 2015 5:00 PM CDT

Pennsylvania AG Kathleen Kane proclaims innocence, blames ‘Porngate’ backlash for charges

Speaking publicly for the first time about criminal charges accusing her of leaking grand jury information and then lying about doing so, Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane proclaimed her innocence in a Wednesday press conference. Although she blamed political fallout from last year’s “Porngate” email scandal for the charges, “My…

Aug 12, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Judge lied about claimed toilet-lid attack outside courthouse, jury finds

A former municipal judge in the village of Waterloo, New York, lied when he said two thugs choked him and beat him with a toilet tank lid outside his courthouse in 2013, a jury has concluded. In a Friday verdict, the jury convicted Roger Barto, 54, of insurance fraud, making…

Aug 10, 2015 2:50 PM CDT

Mastermind gets 15 years in ‘mind-boggling’ scheme to fleece Vegas HOAs of millions

Bringing to a close the largest known public corruption case in Southern Nevada, a federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former construction company boss portrayed by prosecutors as its mastermind to 15½ years in prison. The case, which brought down multiple attorneys among a total of nearly 40 defendants, involved…

Aug 7, 2015 11:37 AM CDT

Dewey inflated invoices to make revenue look higher, former billing director testifies

Dewey & LeBoeuf inflated bills sent to clients the law firm didn’t expect to ante up, in order to increase the amount of booked receivables, a former director of the billing department says. Testifying Monday in a criminal trial against three former leaders of the bankrupt firm, cooperating witness Lourdes…

Aug 5, 2015 10:45 AM CDT

Unlike other suspects, Texas AG appears in his booking photo in a business suit

Charged Monday with violating securities laws, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was photographed in his mug shot wearing a dark business suit and a red patterned necktie. That took observers familiar with state criminal practices by surprise, since prisoners in jail booking photos in Collin County routinely appear with a…

Aug 4, 2015 10:20 AM CDT

Laws need to catch up to high-speed trading

Aug 1, 2015 12:45 AM CDT

Former governor may lose pension under measure he signed into law

While still serving as governor of Virginia, Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell signed legislation that strips pensions from government workers convicted of a felony due to official misconduct. Now he himself is feeling its sting. Based on his 2014 corruption conviction, McDonnell should lose his pension under the law, the state’s…

Jul 31, 2015 5:00 PM CDT

No evidence supports claim US magistrate was aware of husband’s affair with probe target, judge says

A New Orleans businesswoman charged with Medicaid fraud is not entitled to a hearing on whether the federal magistrate judge who approved search warrants was neutral and detached, a federal judge has ruled. The businesswoman, Lisa Crinel, had sought a hearing to determine whether U.S. Magistrate Karen Wells Roby was…

Jul 31, 2015 9:19 AM CDT

Ex-Wilson Sonsini worker who ignored ‘wake-up call’ insider-trade case gets 2 years

A former computer system engineer at a powerhouse Silicon Valley law firm was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison for insider trading. Dimitry Braverman, 42, used his position at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to access confidential information about potential mergers and acquisitions from the firm’s computer system,…

Jul 30, 2015 5:00 PM CDT