White Collar Crime

New Theory Why US Attorneys Were Axed: Perceived Sexual Orientation?

It wasn’t just political affiliation that some top officials at the Department of Justice may have considered when making decisions about hiring and firing. According to the Los Angeles Times, a perceived same-sex relationship based on false rumors of a nonexistent affair between two female prosecutors may also have led…

Jul 29, 2008 11:29 PM CDT

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted on Charges of Lying on Disclosure Forms

Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted on seven counts of lying on Senate financial disclosure forms, the U.S. Justice Department announced in a press conference this afternoon. The indictment charges that, from 1999 to 2006, Stevens accepted gifts from the oil services company Veco valued at more than…

Jul 29, 2008 5:19 PM CDT

Frank Quattrone’s Comeback

Corrected: After a five-year legal saga – in which he lost his job as one of Silicon Valley’s top investment bankers, was convicted of obstruction of justice on charges that he hindered an investigation into whether hedge funds were paying excess commissions to Credit Suisse First Boston, and then won…

Jul 29, 2008 4:21 PM CDT

After Resigning, Calif. Lawyer Allegedly Kept on Practicing

A former immigration lawyer in California who resigned in 2002 as bar disciplinary charges were pending apparently kept right on practicing law. So now James Lopez, 50, is facing four felony counts of unlawful practice, along with another four felony counts of grand theft, reports the Recorder in an article…

Jul 21, 2008 9:31 PM CDT

1000s of Criminals Worked in Florida Mortgage Industry

To work as a mortgage broker in Florida, an individual has to be licensed. But no licensing requirement applies to mortgage originators. As a result, tens of thousands of individuals helping Florida homeowners get mortgages haven’t been licensed–among them, 5,306 loan originators with criminal histories, reports the Miami Herald in…

Jul 21, 2008 6:28 PM CDT

2 Ex-Judges, 1 Attorney Indicted in Georgia Corruption Case

Two former state-court judges–one of them, until recently, a chief judge–as well as an attorney and a court administrator have been indicted in Georgia, in a federal case over state judicial corruption. The indictments today were by a federal grand jury that has been probing claimed corruption in the Alapaha…

Jul 18, 2008 6:13 PM CDT

Prosecuting Official for Funds Misuse Led to Texas DA’s Downfall

Elected six times as district attorney of Rockwell County, in Texas, Ray Sumrow didn’t expect his career move to be a prison cell. But that is where he is now spending his time after 22 years in office, serving a 15-year term for stealing public money. The architect of his…

Jul 17, 2008 8:03 PM CDT

Feds Probe Possible Fraud in IndyMac Bank Failure

In the wake of the FDIC’s takeover Friday of IndyMac Bancorp Inc., the FBI is now investigating possible fraud by the lender concerning mortgage loans made to high-risk borrowers. “Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage lender, is also under scrutiny,” reports the Associated Press. “Over the last year, and…

Jul 16, 2008 9:46 PM CDT

New IRS Rules Target Secret Offshore Bank Accounts

In the wake of a series of revelations concerning secret accounts at UBS AG and other foreign banks, new rules are about to be released by the Internal Revenue Service seek to close loopholes previously used by some U.S. investors to avoid taxes by concealing assets in such accounts. The…

Jul 16, 2008 5:00 PM CDT

Milberg Law Firm Defends Fee Payments to Convicted Partner

Following a court hearing yesterday, a Milberg partner defended the law firm’s agreement to pay former firm leader Melvyn Weiss possibly tens of millions of dollars in unpaid fees. A Wall Street Journal editorial had criticized the agreement, saying the payments could more than make up for the $9.75 million…

Jul 16, 2008 12:31 PM CDT

Congresswoman Plans Bill to Regulate Corporate Monitors

U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez thinks new Justice Department guidelines regulating the selection of corporate monitors are inadequate. The Democrat from California plans to introduce reform legislation this week to regulate the hiring process for monitors scrutinizing companies targeted by the Justice Department for wrongdoing, Legal Times reports. The new legislation…

Jul 15, 2008 1:02 PM CDT

Gambling-Addicted Lawyer to Help Repay Clients with Book Proceeds

A former lawyer plans to contribute the earnings from an ABA book about his downfall to help repay clients whose trust accounts he raided to support a gambling addiction. Michael Burke spent three years in jail for embezzling $1.6 million from client funds and was ordered to repay the money,…

Jul 14, 2008 11:56 AM CDT

Melvyn Weiss Stands to Earn Millions in Unpaid Fees from Former Firm

Melvyn Weiss, a former lead partner at Milberg, stands to collect possibly tens of millions of dollars in unpaid fees from the law firm under an October 2007 agreement. The amount could more than make up for the $9.75 million Weiss agreed to forfeit in a plea deal with the…

Jul 14, 2008 10:48 AM CDT

Lawyer Says His Job Was to Keep Mayor’s Text Messages Secret

A Michigan lawyer testified in a deposition yesterday that his job was to keep the wraps on embarrassing text messages between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and an aide. William Mitchell III of Southfield said he contacted SkyTel to air his concerns about release of the messages between Kilpatrick and his…

Jul 10, 2008 1:40 PM CDT

Mukasey: Attorney-Client Privilege to be Protected in Corporate Probes

Attorney General Michael Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday that the Justice Department will no longer require corporations to waive attorney-client privilege to show their cooperation with the government. Mukasey said he will revise the so-called McNulty memo, written by Paul McNulty, a former deputy attorney general, Legal Times…

Jul 10, 2008 10:45 AM CDT