White Collar Crime

Helping Client Gets Minn. Attorney Suspended for 2 Years

Attorney Benjamin Houge had argued that his conduct merited only a reprimand. But the Minnesota Supreme Court suspended the Twin Cities practitioner for two years over his representation of a client who had previously been involved in mortgage frauds. The court found that Houge had aided a client’s probation violation…

May 6, 2009 7:04 PM CDT

Madoff Firm was ‘Piggy Bank’ for Family, Trustee Says

An investment firm formerly run by convicted Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff was essentially a “piggy bank” for personal expenses for him and his family, a trustee says in court papers. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC paid for country club memberships and salaries of family members and servants, reports Reuters.…

May 6, 2009 4:55 PM CDT

5 Lawyers & Former Court Clerk Defending N.C. Ticket-Tampering Case

A ex-prosecutor and former deputy court clerk in Johnston County, N.C., are facing charges along with four defense lawyers in an alleged ticket-tampering scheme. A county grand jury today indicted former assistant district attorney Cyndi Jaeger on 81 misdemeanor counts of failure to perform duty of office, reports WRAL. She…

May 4, 2009 9:03 PM CDT

Stanford Tries to Surrender, But Feds Don’t Want Him

Billionaire financier R. Allen Stanford marched the few blocks from his lawyer’s office to the downtown courthouse to surrender to federal authorities yesterday in an effort to show he has no plans to run from his legal troubles. But the U.S. Marshals Office noted there is no warrant for Stanford’s…

May 1, 2009 3:25 PM CDT

Judge Rebuffs Request for 230-Year Sentence for Ex-Gen Re Lawyer

A former assistant general counsel at General Re Corp. was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in prison for his role in a scheme to manipulate financial statements, a sentence far lower than the 230 years in prison sought by prosecutors. Lawyer Robert Graham had been accused of…

May 1, 2009 1:48 PM CDT

FBI Raids Offices of NY Lawyer Who Killed His Family and Himself

FBI agents yesterday raided the office of a New York lawyer who apparently killed his family and himself after people who invested with him began demanding their money back. Authorities carried 37 boxes of evidence from the Manhattan law office of tax and estate-planning lawyer William Parente and seized two…

Apr 30, 2009 11:38 AM CDT

FBI is ‘Tearing Apart’ Pa. Lawyer’s Office, His Counsel Says

The FBI raided a Pennsylvania lawyer’s office today, reportedly looking for records related to allegations that John Karoly defrauded an Allentown charity of $500,000. Agents are “tearing apart his office looking for the original records,” attorney Robert Goldman, who represents the South Whitehall Township attorney, tells the Express-Times. Meanwhile, Goldman…

Apr 29, 2009 8:22 PM CDT

EPA Raids Chicago Suburb Accused of Providing Toxic Water to Residents

Criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raided a suburban Chicago municipality today, presumably seeking information about the Village of Crestwood’s alleged provision of contaminated well water to the public. After raiding the village hall and Crestwood’s public works department, the investigators planned to hit the police department next,…

Apr 29, 2009 5:25 PM CDT

Another ‘Clawbacks’ Defense for Madoff Clients: No Money

A new defense has been added to the list of reasons why early investors with Bernard Madoff arguably shouldn’t have to pay “clawbacks” of proceeds they received early on during his operation of a $65 billion Ponzi scheme under the guise of a hedge fund. In short, they don’t have…

Apr 28, 2009 10:36 PM CDT

Did Son & NY Lawyer ‘Steal’ $60M from Socialite Brooke Astor’s Estate?

Prosecutors have accused the son of a famous New York socialite and her lawyer of siphoning $60 million from her estate by taking advantage of her diminished mental capacity to alter her will. But in dozens of wills Brooke Astor signed over a 40-year period beginning in 1953, she gave…

Apr 28, 2009 9:55 PM CDT

Dreier to Plead Guilty to All Counts, His Lawyer Says

Lawyer Marc Dreier, accused of selling $700 million in phony securities to investors, will plead guilty to all charges in a May 11 hearing, his lawyer told a judge yesterday. Defense lawyer Gerald Shargel said Dreier will enter the plea even though there is no deal with prosecutors, the Wall…

Apr 28, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

New Dreier Case Charges: Ex-Broker Was Paid $215K to Impersonate Executives

In a Wednesday filing, the government alleged that onetime registered securities broker Kosta Kovachev was paid $215,000 from Dreier operating and trust accounts to impersonate executives in Marc Dreier’s efforts to sell millions of dollars worth of phony promissory notes to hedge funds. Kovachev appeared for his arraignment on the…

Apr 23, 2009 10:36 PM CDT

75 Former Attys General Ask Holder to Launch Probe of Siegelman’s Prosecution

Emboldened by Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to drop its case against former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, a group of 75 former state attorneys general from across the country is asking for an investigation into whether former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman’s corruption prosecution should stand. The effort is bipartisan, the…

Apr 23, 2009 5:01 PM CDT

Investors Claim Millions in Losses with Murder-Suicide Lawyer

Federal authorities are investigating the financial dealings of a Manhattan lawyer thought to have killed his wife and two daughters in a Baltimore area hotel late Sunday before using a knife to kill himself. Lawyer William Parente apparently beat and asphyxiated his wife, Betty, and their daughters, ages 19 and…

Apr 23, 2009 12:35 PM CDT

Rare Jury Verdict Delay ‘Sheer Agony’ for Bob Bennett & Client Attorney

After days of deliberation, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida returned a verdict on Thursday in a tax evasion case against Michigan attorney Alan Miller. But it wasn’t announced until the jury also reached a verdict on charges against Miller’s tax client, Indy 500 and Dancing with…

Apr 21, 2009 7:36 PM CDT