White Collar Crime

White-collar litigation trio leaps from Morgan Lewis to McGuireWoods

A trio of white-collar litigation partners, headed by a former top lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice, has exited Morgan Lewis & Bockius for McGuireWoods. Partner George Terwilliger III, who co-chaired the white-collar litigation and government investigation practice group at his now-former firm, will serve as the chief of…

Jan 29, 2015 12:10 PM CST

Top NY lawmaker prosecuted over $3M asbestos-case referral fees exits speaker post and law firm role

After the announcement of criminal charges that he took millions of dollars in kickbacks under the guise of legal fees in exchange for misusing his government influence, a longtime New York Democratic legislative leader is stepping down from his role as speaker and taking an unpaid leave of absence from…

Jan 28, 2015 1:55 PM CST

Author tells tangled tale of the $19B verdict against Chevron in ‘Law of the Jungle’ (podcast)

In 2011, an Ecuadoran court found the Chevron Corporation liable for environmental damage caused by oil drilling in the 1970s-80s. Chevron was ordered to pay $19 billion to the plaintiffs who brought the suit, a collection of small farmers and indigenous peoples. Although it is tempting to fit this into a simple narrative-either "victory for oppressed people against an evil corporation" or "responsible corporation preyed upon by voracious plaintiffs attorneys"--the truth just isn't that simple.

Jan 28, 2015 9:15 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

Feds expand case against defense lawyer charged with perjury, indict another attorney

A criminal defense lawyer considered a rising star in Chicago prior to his federal indictment last year for perjury and obstruction of justice is now facing an expanded criminal case. In a superseding indictment made public Friday, Beau Brindley is accused of encouraging witnesses to lie in five cases and…

Jan 16, 2015 1:35 PM 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 convicted of helping client launder proceeds from stolen equipment gets 2 years

A long legal battle is ending with a two-year federal prison sentence for a former California prosecutor and defense attorney convicted of helping an ex-client launder $120,000 he obtained by selling stolen computer equipment. Rejecting a bid by Jamie Harley for home confinement, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh did, however,…

Jan 16, 2015 5:45 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 charged in claimed scheme to launder nearly $1M in fraudulently obtained tax-refund checks

A Boston area lawyer who specializes in real estate closings has been indicted in a claimed conspiracy to launder nearly $1 million in fraudulently obtained federal tax-refund checks. R. David Cohen, 63, is charged, along with an alleged co-conspirator, with depositing 152 checks totaling $993,677 into several bank accounts, starting…

Jan 15, 2015 10:00 AM CST

Former US attorney for Nevada gets 18 months for not filing federal tax returns

A former U.S. attorney for Nevada was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months for failing to file federal tax returns. Lawrence “Larry” Semenza II must report to prison by April 17, 2015 to begin serving his sentence in the Las Vegas case, KLAS reports. He must also pay $290,000 in restitution.…

Jan 14, 2015 2:40 PM CST

Former judge pleads guilty, admits taking bribe to cut jury verdict from $5.2M to $1M

A former Arkansas judge waived indictment and pleaded guilty Friday to a federal criminal information (PDF) charging him with accepting a bribe for reducing a nursing home negligence verdict from $5.2 million to $1 million. Michael A. Maggio, 53, admitted being “improperly influenced” in the nursing home case by campaign…

Jan 12, 2015 12:05 PM CST

Ex-prosecutor accused of selling confidential info and his influence, due to drug addiction

Suffering from “severe financial strain” as a result of an addiction to oxycodone pills, a Massachusetts prosecutor traded confidential information from his office for the drug and took $1,500 from a woman who was trying to get her son’s commercial driving privileges restored, authorities say. Arraigned Friday in Middlesex Superior…

Jan 9, 2015 10:40 AM CST

Judge blasts disbarred lawyer for paying no restitution in $837K client fraud, gives her 4-year max

A disbarred Iowa lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum prison term for wire fraud by a federal judge who expressed “extreme disappointment” that Susan Hense has so far paid nothing toward restitution for more than one dozen victims. That amounts to over four years behind bars for Susan Hense,…

Jan 9, 2015 9:35 AM CST

US Rep. Grimm resigns seat after tax evasion plea

U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm of Staten Island, New York, has officially resigned his congressional seat in the wake of pleading guilty to federal tax evasion charges. The New York Daily News reported Monday that Grimm, a Republican who had served in Congress since 2011, formally resigned his seat in a…

Jan 6, 2015 2:59 PM CST

Former Virginia governor sentenced to 2 years in corruption case

Convicted in September in a federal corruption case, former Virginia governor and attorney general Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison, the New York Times reports. His lawyers sought probation and 6,000 hours of community service in the Richmond case, in which McDonnell and…

Jan 6, 2015 2:05 PM CST