White Collar Crime

Russian Lawyer, 37, Dies in Prison After Pursuing Claimed Kremlin Fraud

A Russian lawyer who helped a London-based hedge fund pursue a claimed massive fraud in which Kremlin officials allegedly participated has died in prison, where he was awaiting trial for conspiracy in a related case. Sergei Magnitsky died yesterday at the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center, reports the London Times. The…

Nov 17, 2009 6:47 PM CST

More Hackers Target Law Firms, Often ‘Spear Fishing’ in Spam E-Mail

Computer hackers are targeting law firms as a potential motherlode of confidential information, often relying on “spear fishing” attacks in which personalized spam e-mail appears to come from a trusted individual. While the e-mail itself doesn’t pose a danger, clicking on a link within the e-mail can invite malicious software…

Nov 17, 2009 12:18 AM CST

Ex-Gov of Ill. Could Be Alone at Trial as Other Defendants Sprint for Exit

It looks like the impeached former governor of Illinois is likely to be all alone when his federal corruption case goes to trial next year. Although there were six defendants in the case when the charges were announced earlier this year, Rod Blagojevich’s brother, Rob, is the only remaining co-defendant…

Nov 16, 2009 8:11 PM CST

Misconduct By 3 Sekhon Firm Lawyers Puts Up to 700 Clients in Peril

Sekhon & Sekhon claimed a 95 percent success rate concerning more than 1,000 immigrants that the law firm helped to win political asylum in the United States. But now up to 700 could be deported because they lied to immigration judges and asylum officers after the law firm and interpreters…

Nov 16, 2009 6:10 PM CST

Mostly Mundane Madoff Auction Reveals ‘Shameless Excess’ Only in His Closet

In a perhaps unexpected example of the banality of evil, attendees at a preview today of a New York auction of personal belongings bought with money from Bernard Madoff’s record-breaking Ponzi scheme seemed disappointed at the mundane nature of much of the swag. Aside from the “shameless excess” displayed in…

Nov 14, 2009 12:48 AM CST

Law Firms Review Compliance Measures After Attorney Arrests in Insider Cases

Recent charges by federal authorities that three current or former BigLaw attorneys illegally made securities trades—two of them allegedly using inside information gleaned from the law firms that employed them—have sparked renewed vigilance at many legal partnerships. Law firms are reviewing the security measures and training they use to keep…

Nov 13, 2009 10:36 PM CST

FBI: Rothstein Scheme Could Top $1B; Filing: Firm Spent $1.4M in Escrow Funds

In an apparent death blow for Rothstein Rosenfeld Adler’s reported plan to reconfigure its law practice without co-founding partner and accused Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by several investors claims that the law firm improperly transferred $1.4 million of client funds from an escrow…

Nov 12, 2009 10:49 PM CST

Indicted Pa. Jurists Now a Case for Reduced Judicial Immunity

Since 1872, the U.S. Supreme Court has held the line on judicial immunity, essentially ruling that jurists should be protected from civil litigation over their decisions on the bench no matter how wrong they might be. But a pair of former Pennsylvania judges facing federal corruption charges in the so-called…

Nov 12, 2009 9:00 PM CST

Ex-Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Execs Acquitted Today on All Charges

When concerns are expressed that authorities are targeting the small fry rather than the big fish in mortgage-related fraud cases, a criminal prosecution of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers has repeatedly been cited as a rare exception. But today the case ended with the acquittal of both defendants,…

Nov 10, 2009 9:35 PM CST

Feds Seize Rothstein’s Ferrari, Boats in Ponzi Scheme Probe

Holed up in an undisclosed location with his legal counsel, attorney Scott Rothstein has been in an upbeat mood lately after his return from Morocco, despite accusations that he stole hundreds of millions of dollars from investors through his law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. But now federal authorities have filed…

Nov 9, 2009 11:27 PM CST

Powell Law Firm Dropped as Defendant in Kids-for-Cash Case

The law firm of Robert J. Powell has been dropped as a defendant in a federal tort claim brought over the so-called kids-for-cash case involving $770,000 in kickbacks admittedly paid by Powell to two former judges in Luzerne County, Pa. In exchange, the two judges, Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael…

Nov 9, 2009 7:46 PM CST

Ex-SEC Lawyer Pleads in Dreier Case, Got $100K to Play Role re $44M in Fake Notes

A lawyer who formerly worked in the enforcement division of the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission has pleaded guilty to helping attorney Marc Dreier try to sell $44.7 million of fake notes to sophisticated investors. Robert Miller, 52, said Dreier paid him $100,000 to impersonate individuals at a Canadian pension…

Nov 9, 2009 7:20 PM CST

Troubled Pa. Court Asks Lawyers to Volunteer to Reduce Trial Backlog

Faced with a shortage of two judges, in the wake of misconduct charges, and a backlog of 1,382 cases that are supposed to be tried by January, a Pennsylvania court is calling for seasoned practitioners to volunteer as special trial masters. With the parties’ permission, they can oversee jury trials,…

Nov 7, 2009 12:15 AM CST

Rothstein Firm Is Running on Fumes, Newspaper Says

Despite an effort by partner and president Stuart Rosenfeldt to create a new law firm out of the apparent ashes of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, the well-known Fort Lauderdale, Fla., law firm is running on fumes. After stunning revelations of alleged misconduct by a top partner, the departure of some other…

Nov 6, 2009 10:07 PM CST

Former Sullivan & Cromwell Lawyer Is Among Galleon Defendants

A trader who formerly worked as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell was among the 14 defendants charged today in the Galleon Group hedge fund insider-trading case. Michael Kimmelman, 38, has since founded Incremental Capital, with another defendant in the case. However, he previously worked as an…

Nov 5, 2009 10:48 PM CST