White Collar Crime

90 N.Y. Lawyers May Have Collected Millions of Dollars in ‘Scam’ Pensions

Ninety lawyers in New York state may have collected tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent pensions from school districts that improperly listed them as employees, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a news conference yesterday. Cuomo said he is weighing civil and criminal charges against the lawyers for what…

Apr 11, 2008 11:44 AM CDT

Musical Hot Seats in Detroit, as Lawyers Testify About $8.4M Settlement

As a hearing before the Detroit City Council that has put a number of lawyers in the hot seat continued for a third day today, observers got an unusually detailed behind-the-scenes account of how attorneys on both sides of a controversial $8.4 million settlement reached the agreement. Plaintiffs attorney Mike…

Apr 10, 2008 10:33 PM CDT

Prosecutors Say They Will Retry Celebrity Coroner

Prosecutors say they will retry celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht after jurors deadlocked in his prosecution for mail and wire fraud. A new trial is set for May 27, but Wecht’s lawyers are seeking a delay while they challenge the charges and work on other matters, WTAE-TV reports. Wecht is represented…

Apr 10, 2008 6:41 PM CDT

Trustee Targets Investment Banks; Will His Suit Spark Others?

In a case that may be something of a signpost pointing to further litigation related to the subprime mortgage crisis, a bankruptcy trustee has filed suit against major investment banks claiming that their lax practices shored up a third-party lender, Philadelphia-based American Business Financial Services Inc., and thus cost ABFS…

Apr 9, 2008 5:29 PM CDT

Ohio Lawyer Gets Probation for Faking Kidnapping

An Ohio attorney who disappeared for several days last year while pregnant and later falsely claimed to have been kidnapped at gunpoint, has been sentenced to probation and a $300 fine in a Toledo misdemeanor case for making false alarms. Karyn McConnell Hancock, 35, apologized to investigators, family and friends…

Apr 9, 2008 4:08 PM CDT

Does Deferring Prosecution Foster Risky Corporate Behavior?

The Justice Department has put off prosecuting more than 50 companies suspected of wrongdoing over the last three years, sparing those companies the cost and stigma of going to trial. This is a major policy shift and spotlights a favorite tool of the Bush administration, deferred prosecutions, the New York…

Apr 9, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Lawyer Gets 10 Years for Stealing $2.5M from Paralyzed Client

A lawyer who funded a lavish lifestyle by stealing most of the $3.5 million intended to fund a lifetime of care for a paralyzed client has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term by a United Kingdom judge. Covering his tracks with dummy bills, solicitor Thomas McGoldrick, 59, stole not…

Apr 8, 2008 3:55 PM CDT

Judge Mulls Sentence After Melvyn Weiss Formally Enters Guilty Plea

Securities class-action king Melvyn Weiss formally entered his guilty plea to racketeering in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday. Weiss, 72, told U.S. District Judge John Walter, “I take responsibility for everything,” the Associated Press reports. Weiss agreed to plead guilty last month to charges that he paid millions of dollars…

Apr 3, 2008 12:35 PM CDT

Court Hears Appeal Today by Ex-Enron CEO

Lawyers for former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling are asking a federal appeals court to overturn his conviction in oral arguments today. Experts told the Associated Press that Skilling has a good chance of winning his attack on the prosecution theory that he deprived the company of honest services. The New…

Apr 2, 2008 5:02 PM CDT

Scruggs Says Bar’s Complaint is Premature

Disgraced plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to reject a petition to have him disbarred, arguing that the effort is premature. The Mississippi Bar Association recently asked the state’s high court to strip Scruggs of his law license. Scruggs pleaded guilty March 14 to conspiring…

Apr 1, 2008 8:03 PM CDT

Long Live the King of Torts?

Tort lawyers don’t come any more successful than Mississippi’s Dickie Scruggs. Now that he’s been accused of bribery, there are questions about how he achieved so much.

Apr 1, 2008 4:20 PM CDT

Colorado Ballot Measure Targets Execs Who Fail to Stop Corporate Fraud

A former employee at Qwest Communications is backing a ballot measure in Colorado that would create the nation’s toughest corporate fraud law. Lew Ellingson, who had a job splicing phone cables, told the New York Times he became angry when Qwest colleagues lost their life savings after insider trading allegations…

Apr 1, 2008 3:32 PM CDT

Judge Declines to Dismiss Charge Against Once-Mighty Milberg

The federal judge overseeing the unprecedented case against the former Milberg Weiss has declined to dismiss a money-laundering conspiracy charge against the firm even though all the principal targets in the case have pleaded out. U.S. District Judge John Walter ruled Monday that the law firm was correctly charged, the…

Mar 31, 2008 10:08 PM CDT

Supreme Court Denies Review in Congressional Search Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to grant review of a case involving the federal government’s power to search a congressman’s offices. U.S. Rep. William Jefferson had contended the FBI overstepped when it raided his offices in May 2006, CNN reports. He was later indicted on public corruption charges that…

Mar 31, 2008 4:31 PM CDT

Two Newspapers, Two Different Views of Michael Mukasey

Two very different views of Attorney General Michael Mukasey emerged in recent editorials by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal calls the former judge, who is experienced in terrorism trials, “an attorney general worthy of the current moment.” Mukasey is backing legislation that…

Mar 31, 2008 2:57 PM CDT