White Collar Crime

Attorney, Disbarred Lawyer Among Latest 14 to Take Pleas in Las Vegas Homeowner Association Fraud

Another 14 defendants took pleas Thursday in an ongoing federal investigation concerning massive alleged fraud among Las Vegas homeowner associations. Among them are a lawyer, Brian Jones, 38, who admitted in his guilty plea that he helped rig board elections at two associations, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. He formerly…

May 31, 2012 11:31 PM CDT

John Edwards Found Not Guilty on 1 Count in Campaign-Fraud Case; Jury Deadlocks on 5 Others

Updated: After nine days of deliberation in a political corruption case against former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a federal jury in North Carolina found him not guilty on one campaign fraud charge and deadlocked on the other five counts. The onetime Democratic presidential candidate, who had been accused of accepting…

May 31, 2012 8:00 PM CDT

Feds Kick Off Lawyer’s Money-Laundering Conspiracy Trial by Playing Tape of Talk with DEA Snitch

A high-profile Boston criminal defense lawyer was in the hot seat himself Wednesday as the government began presenting its side of a money-laundering conspiracy trial against attorney Robert “Bob” George by introducing a recording of a talk with a Drug Enforcement Administration snitch. During the April 6, 2009 conversation with…

May 31, 2012 4:52 PM CDT

Counsel for Lawyer Being Tried in Federal Money-Laundering Case Says Witness Ex-Client Ran Scheme

Opening arguments began Wednesday in the trial of a prominent Massachusetts criminal defense lawyer accused in a money laundering case. Robert A. George is charged with seven counts in federal court in Boston, including money laundering, conspiracy and structuring transactions, the Cape Cod Times reports. The government says he was…

May 30, 2012 7:11 PM CDT

Partner in $2M Hogan Lovells Expense Fraud ‘Lost All Reason,’ Spent $1M on Mistress, His Lawyer Says

A then-partner of Hogan Lovells “lost all reason” after falling for a Lebanese woman living in New York, spending well over $1 million on her during the course of an 18-month affair, his counsel told a British court before Christopher Grierson was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison The…

May 30, 2012 4:40 PM CDT

Attorney Loses License, Gets 10-Year Probation in Barratry Case; Runner Gets 3 Years in Slammer

Corrected: A Texas attorney has lost his license to practice law as part of a plea deal in a barratry case. The attorney, Benito Garza of Corpus Christi, also was sentenced to 10 years of probation and a $6,000 fine following his no-contest plea on May 17 to the third-degree…

May 29, 2012 3:43 PM CDT

Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney from Chicago, Is Stepping Down

Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who oversaw the prosecutions of former Illinois Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich, announced Wednesday that he is stepping down June 30. Fitzgerald is the longest-serving U.S. attorney in Chicago history, the Chicago Tribune reports, having served in the post for more than 10½ years.…

May 23, 2012 7:22 PM CDT

Ex-Baker Partner Pleads Guilty in Stock Scheme, Escrow Switch

A former partner at Baker & McKenzie pleaded guilty on Monday as he was about to go on trial in Brooklyn federal court for earning $1.3 million in interest on $30 million that was supposed to be placed in escrow. Martin Weisberg, 61, pleaded guilty to money laundering in the…

May 22, 2012 11:37 AM CDT

In-House Counsel for Developer Didn’t Stop $98M Mortgage Fraud, Loses Law License for 4 Years

A sole practitioner who worked as in-house counsel for companies controlled by a New York real estate developer has lost his law license for four years, because he failed to detect and stop mortgage-origination fraud by the developer that cost lenders $98 million. There is no evidence that Thomas Cusack…

May 17, 2012 4:30 PM CDT

Lawyer Held In Lieu of $2M Bail re Claimed Conspiracy to Help Clients Avoid Tax on Offshore $10M

A lawyer who has been federally indicted on accusations he participated in a conspiracy to help relatives of a retired Fidelity Investments executive avoid estate and income tax on $10 million in offshore funds was still in jail at last report, being held in lieu of $2 million bond. A…

May 14, 2012 5:30 PM CDT

DOJ Doesn’t Tally Execs Convicted in Financial Crisis Wrongdoing; Is Embarrassment the Reason?

The U.S. Justice Department says it doesn’t keep track of the number of high-level executives convicted as a result of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis. In a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the department disclosed what it did know, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Since the…

May 14, 2012 4:28 PM CDT

Lawyer is Federally Charged re Claimed Conspiracy to Use Swiss Bank Accounts to Defraud IRS

A lawyer has been criminally charged concerning a series of events beginning with a meeting more than a decade ago at a New York hotel. There, authorities say, members of an American family described as “the Seggermans” were advised about how to bring millions into the United States from an…

May 11, 2012 8:02 PM CDT

Husband-and-Wife Attorneys Get Reciprocal Sentences in Tax Case

As part of a plea deal, a former Michigan attorney is serving a 15-month federal prison term in a tax evasion case, now that his attorney wife has completed her own eight-month stint in the slammer on a misdemeanor conviction for failing to file a tax return. Charles Rominger Jr.…

May 11, 2012 4:31 PM CDT

Feds Say Ex-Partner Committed Crimes to ‘Dramatically Increase’ Rothstein Law Firm’s Political Power

A former partner has pleaded guilty to crimes that federal prosecutors say were intended to “dramatically increase the political influence and power” of a South Florida law firm headed by now-convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. Steven N. Lippman, 49, who was a non-equity partner of Scott Rothstein’s law firm in…

May 11, 2012 3:55 PM CDT

Ga. Attorney Facing Felony Theft Charges For Failing to File Client Cases Is Disbarred

A longtime Georgia practitioner has been disbarred for taking clients’ money without performing agreed work and closing his law office without notifying them. However, an attorney who formerly shared an office with Robert Bach, said he believes the nearly 80-year-old attorney was suffering from age-related forgetfulness rather than simply being,…

May 10, 2012 6:56 PM CDT