White Collar Crime

7th Cir. Axes 2 Conrad Black Fraud Verdicts, But OKs Another, Plus Obstruction Conviction

In a partial victory for Conrad Black, a federal appeals court has axed two “honest services” fraud verdicts against the media mogul. However, it upheld a verdict that he was guilty of another kind of fraud, as well as an obstruction conviction, reports the Dealbook blog of the New York…

Oct 29, 2010 10:35 PM CDT

Older White-Collar Defendants Likely to Cite Change to Sentencing Guidelines

Older people convicted of white-collar and other federal crimes will likely be citing new U.S. sentencing guidelines scheduled to take effect Nov. 1. The guidelines say age may be relevant in calculating sentencing ranges, Bloomberg reports. Current guidelines say age is “not ordinarily relevant.” The story notes that white-collar defendants…

Oct 29, 2010 3:52 PM CDT

After Taking 8-Day Vacation for ‘Jury Duty,’ Woman Is Jailed When She Returns to Work

Rebecca Thybulle apparently might have gotten away with allegedly faking a jury duty summons in order to take an eight-day vacation from work while claiming to be hearing a vehicular homicide case. But court documents say the 32-year-old New York human resources manager left an incomplete version of the doctored…

Oct 28, 2010 7:06 PM CDT

Criminal Probe for ‘I Am the Prize’ Ex-DA Accused of Sexually Harassing at Work

After initially determining, based on one woman’s report and the accused prosecutor’s response, that alleged sexual harassment by a then-Wisconsin district attorney wasn’t criminal, authorities have reopened their investigation into the job-related conduct of former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz. The new probe apparently focuses on new information that…

Oct 15, 2010 5:57 PM CDT

High-Ranking Prison Official Charged with Seeking Bribes for Help with Discrimination Case

A high-ranking official with the New Jersey Department of Corrections has been arrested on federal bribery charges. Among the accusations against Lydell Sherrer, 51, is that he accepted $4,000 in bribes to provide a fellow employee with internal documents to use in a discrimination lawsuit against the department, reports the…

Oct 14, 2010 12:47 AM CDT

Retired Judge to be Tried for Perjury, Admits Letting Witness Lie to Protect Paid Informant

A retired Michigan judge has been ordered to stand trial along with two Detroit-area police officers and Wayne County’s former chief drug prosecutor, who has also retired, for allegedly encouraging witness lies in a 2005 trial in a major cocaine case. Allegedly told by the prosecutor, Karen Plants, that false…

Oct 13, 2010 7:57 PM CDT

Dozens Arrested in $100M Medicare Case Bust; Doctor & Patient IDs Allegedly Stolen

Developing: Perhaps 100 people have been arrested in California, Georgia, Ohio, New Mexico and New York, in a record-breaking Medicare fraud case that allegedly involved $100 million in bogus billings and the use of stolen doctor and patient identities. Some 40 individuals were arrested in New York alone and an…

Oct 13, 2010 6:42 PM CDT

Lloyd’s $100M D&O Policy Doesn’t Cover Stanford’s Legal Defense Bill in Ponzi Case, Judge Rules

Lloyd’s of London doesn’t have any obligation to cover onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford’s criminal defense costs under a $100 million policy of directors and officers insurance for his company, a federal judge has ruled. In a four-day trial in August the insurer proved, under a preponderance standard, that Stanford…

Oct 13, 2010 6:01 PM CDT

Grand Jury Probe of $48M ‘Taj Mahal’ Courthouse Goes Nowhere

A plan to build a lavish new appellate courthouse in Florida was no secret. But now that the $48 million “Taj Mahal” structure is nearing completion in Tallahassee, some are demanding answers about how it came to be and seeking to hold judges and other officials accountable. A grand jury…

Oct 13, 2010 12:52 AM CDT

Ex-Attorney Rothstein’s Right-Hand Woman Gets 10 Years in $1.4B Ponzi Scheme

Exceeding the prosecution’s recommendation of a seven-year sentence, a federal judge in South Florida today imposed a 10-year prison term on an aide to ex-attorney Scott Rothstein for her role in his approximately $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, in which he sold expected income from fake legal settlements. Debra Villegas, 43,…

Oct 8, 2010 5:24 PM CDT

Allergan to Pay $375M in Criminal Case Over Off-Label Marketing of Botox

A federal judge in Atlanta yesterday okayed a $375 million settlement of a criminal case by Allergan Inc. concerning the company’s marketing of Botox drug for off-label purposes not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Although Allergan denies wrongdoing, aside from one misdemeanor count over its marketing of…

Oct 6, 2010 5:05 PM CDT

Court’s Sentence Makes Rogue Trader Kerviel a Six-Billion-Dollar Man

Jerome Kerviel was sentenced to what is locally considered a hefty three-year prison term today by the main criminal court in Paris, and ordered to repay his employer, Societe General, nearly $7 billion in a record-breaking rogue trading case at the bank. Although the 33-year-old defendant and some observers blamed…

Oct 5, 2010 11:41 PM CDT

Exotic Dancer’s Tip Links Federal Judge, 67, to Drug & Firearms Case

Updated: A senior federal judge was arrested Friday in a drug and firearms case and held over the weekend in an undisclosed location. The case resulted from a tip by an exotic dancer at an Atlanta strip club from whom U.S. District Judge Jack Camp allegedly purchased illegal substances and…

Oct 4, 2010 8:53 PM CDT

‘Die Hard’ Director Gets 12 Months for Lying to Feds in Hollywood PI Wiretap Case

John McTiernan, who directed Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, among other well-known movies, has been sentenced to 12 months for his peripheral role in a celebrity wiretap case that also brought down a private investigator and a California lawyer. McTiernan, 59, who is apparently appealing, was also…

Oct 4, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

City Attorney Exonerated in Criminal Probe re $15K in Work Monthly Sent to His Own Law Firm

The top lawyer in Chattanooga, Tenn., has been exonerated in a criminal probe over his reported practice of contracting out some $15,000 in legal and secretarial work to his own law firm. Although there were technical violations of state law, said District Attorney General Russell Johnson, of Kingston, Tenn., in…

Oct 1, 2010 2:59 PM CDT