White Collar Crime

Attorney convicted of laundering proceeds from marijuana operation

A Minnesota attorney has been federally convicted for using his law firm to help launder money from a brother-in-law’s marijuana sales operation. Robert D. Boedigheimer, 51, was found guilty Tuesday by a Minneapolis jury of money laundering and making false statements to an Internal Revenue Service agent, according to the…

Jun 18, 2014 7:19 PM CDT

3rd name partner of law firm shuttered by founder’s $1.4B swindle takes plea in felony case

A trifecta of felony convictions looms for a once-prominent South Florida law firm, following a guilty plea in federal court in Miami on Wednesday by Stuart Rosenfeldt. The 59-year-old is the third of three former name partners of the bankrupt Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler firm to take a plea in a…

Jun 12, 2014 8:43 PM CDT

Ex-judge is sentenced to 4 years in federal corruption case

A former longtime West Virginia judge was sentenced Monday to four years and two months in prison for his role in a Mingo County corruption case. Comparing Michael Thornsbury’s actions to those of a Third World dictator, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas E. Johnston said he would have given Thornsbury…

Jun 9, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Nevada US Attorney sees ‘alarming’ rise in lawyer convictions; what is the reason?

Nineteen Nevada lawyers, mostly from Las Vegas, were convicted in federal court since 2011, a big increase from the four lawyers convicted in the previous three years, according to a 2013 annual report by the Nevada U.S. Attorney. Nineteen of those 23 convictions involved financial crimes such as tax evasion,…

Jun 9, 2014 12:39 PM CDT

Feds seek ‘very substantial’ sentence for corrupt judge who had ‘enormous power’ in his county

Federal prosecutors are seeking a “very substantial” prison sentence for a former West Virginia judge, arguing that the guideline sentence for the crime to which he pleaded guilty isn’t sufficient to send a message that will deter others. Former Mingo Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury pleaded guilty last year to conspiring…

Jun 4, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Fugitive lawyer among ‘financial thugs’ indicted in record $13.5M loan-modification case, DA says

A California lawyer is among seven defendants indicted in what prosecutors are calling the largest mortgage loan modification case ever pursued in the U.S. Attorney Pamela Gressier is accused of playing a role in a scheme in which Orange County deputy district attorney Megan Wagner said.”financial thugs” obtained over $13.5…

May 23, 2014 5:30 PM CDT

Feds charge another Rothstein lawyer, say sheriff’s office went to escort’s home to erase phone info

A name partner of a now-shuttered South Florida law firm linked to a massive fraud has been federally charged with a single conspiracy count. Stuart Rosenfeldt is charged with conspiracy to commit campaign finance fraud, bank fraud and civil rights violations. He could get as much as five years if…

May 22, 2014 10:10 PM CDT

Former executive takes plea in $16.6M fruitcake bakery embezzlement case

A former executive at a small town Texas bakery known for the big business it did in high-end mail-order fruitcakes has agreed to take a plea in a $16.6 million embezzlement case. Sandy Jenkins, who was until 2013 the controller at Collin Street Bakery, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court…

May 22, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

Lawyer who impersonated bar official in aid of law firm founder’s Ponzi scheme gets 5 years

Christina Kitterman has said she had no idea her longtime mentor, law firm founder Scott Rothstein, was involved in a $1.4 billion fraud. So she agreed to help him and the firm out by making a phone call and pretending to be the chief of the Florida Bar’s office in…

May 20, 2014 9:40 PM CDT

Texas governor faces grand jury probe for vetoing unit’s funding after DA’s drunken-driving arrest

No one, including a Texas district attorney, questions that she made a mistake by drinking and driving last year. But now grand jurors in Austin are being asked to determine whether the state’s governor, Rick Perry, violated the law, too. Their probe focuses on whether Perry, by vetoing funding to…

May 20, 2014 5:55 PM CDT

Ex-manager of Chicago’s red-light traffic camera ticketing program is federally indicted

Updated: A retired former City Hall manager of a Chicago program that used cameras to issue traffic tickets to drivers who ran red lights has been federally indicted. John Bills is charged in a claimed bribery scheme involving more than $2 million. Federal prosecutors say he accepted money and other…

May 14, 2014 7:29 PM CDT

4 new pleas in record Las Vegas corruption case; defense lawyers for others OK secret evidence pact

Four more defendants have taken pleas in a high-profile Nevada federal corruption case involving bid-rigging and election fraud at homeowner associations in the Las Vegas area. When Ricky Anderson, Maria Limon, and brothers Jose Luis Alvarez and Rudolfo Alvarez-Rodriguez enter their guilty pleas next week, that will bring the total…

May 14, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

FBI calls attorney defendant who failed to appear for court hearing ‘armed and dangerous’

Updated: A 67-year-old Florida lawyer wanted in connection with a $19 million investment fraud case is “armed and dangerous,” the FBI says. However, a lawyer representing attorney Michael Ralph Casey urged against jumping to conclusions and said he is concerned for Casey’s safety. The FBI’s office in Miami says Casey,…

May 13, 2014 6:45 PM CDT

2 lawyers among 6 charged in $30M mortgage fraud conspiracy

Two lawyers are among six defendants federally charged in what authorities say was a $30 million mortgage fraud carried out in the New York City area between 2003 and 2008. All face a single count of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud, Newsday reports. The charge carries a maximum prison term…

May 6, 2014 6:50 PM CDT

3 new pleas linked to ex-law firm chief serving 50 years in $1.2B swindle; 20th conviction now looms

Three more guilty pleas are scheduled in cases linked to disbarred onetime Florida law firm leader Scott Rothstein, bringing the total number of expected federal convictions, including Rothstein’s, to 20. The latest defendants who have agreed to take pleas are a former Broward County sheriff’s lieutenant and detective and the…

May 6, 2014 5:50 PM CDT