White Collar Crime

Former AG Ashcroft Spars With Legislator Over Monitoring Contract

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft sparred with the chairwoman of a House Judiciary subcommittee who questioned him today about his consulting firm’s contract to monitor an Indiana medical supply company. U.S. Rep. Linda Sanchez of California described the contract as a “sweetheart deal” in which “Ashcroft was selected with no…

Mar 11, 2008 7:08 PM CDT

Former AG Ashcroft Testifies Today in Corporate Monitor Hearings

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft testifies before a House Judiciary subcommittee today on the hiring of monitors to police corporate behavior. The U.S. attorney in New Jersey gave Ashcroft’s firm a lucrative contract to monitor an Indiana medical supply company as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. The committee wants…

Mar 11, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Lawyers Await New Century Examiner’s Report

A bankruptcy examiner’s report about problems at subprime lender New Century Financial could be unsealed as early as this week. The report is likely to address advice by auditor KPMG, which was involved in accounting changes that forced New Century to restate earnings in February, the Recorder reports. The audit…

Mar 10, 2008 1:40 PM CDT

Former Miller Canfield Partner Indicted in Tax Shelter Case

A former partner of one of Michigan’s largest law firms has been indicted by a federal grand jury along with five other men on tax charges. John A. “Jac” Campbell, 63, who was working at Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone at least as recently as late 2006, was charged with…

Mar 7, 2008 6:29 PM CST

Client Sues McGuireWoods re Ex-Partner’s Claimed $17M Trading Scheme

A former client has sued McGuireWoods for malpractice over claimed illegal trading of the client’s stock by a law firm partner acting as issuer’s counsel. He allegedly made more than $17 million from selling stock of the plaintiff, Alternative Energy Sources Inc., and at least six other ethanol companies, but…

Mar 5, 2008 9:00 PM CST

Jail Isn’t End of SEC Saga for Convicted Lawyer in $1B ‘Ponzi Scheme’

After pleading guilty in a $1 billion federal securities fraud conspiracy case last year, Florida attorney Stephen Ziegler was sentenced to a five-year prison term and had his law license suspended. But that’s not the final answer, as far as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement efforts against him…

Mar 4, 2008 8:22 PM CST

Supreme Court Refuses Appeal in Adelphia Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the accounting fraud appeal of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy, the company’s former chief financial officer. The men had contended the government failed to prove they violated the generally accepted accounting principles in prosecuting and convicting them for…

Mar 3, 2008 5:02 PM CST

Spy Saga Sparked Liechtenstein Tax Probe

Liechtenstein is a small country the size of Washington, D.C., wedged between Austria and Switzerland. But it has been big news recently as a growing number of countries focus on the bank accounts there that many noncitizens reportedly have established to avoid paying taxes at home. Meanwhile, it appears that…

Feb 27, 2008 6:30 PM CST

If You Bank in Liechtenstein, You May Have a Problem

A two-week probe by German authorities has netted nearly 200 people who reportedly confessed to setting up bank accounts in Liechtenstein to avoid paying required taxes. Now the Internal Revenue Service has announced today that it will pursue some 100 Americans who may have established bank accounts there for the…

Feb 26, 2008 5:00 PM CST

Lerach’s Gone, But Business Is Booming at Coughlin Stoia

Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins is flourishing despite the loss of founder William Lerach, who was sentenced to two years in prison for a scheme to pay kickbacks to lead plaintiffs while at his former firm. Coughlin Stoia is filing more cases on average than in the months before…

Feb 26, 2008 1:50 PM CST

Five Convicted in AIG Reinsurance Scheme

A federal jury in Connecticut has found five former insurance executives guilty of securities fraud in a reinsurance scheme that boosted the stock price of American International Group Inc. Prosecutors said the investigation is continuing, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and New York Times. “We’ve got a lot…

Feb 26, 2008 1:08 PM CST

One Former Bill Lerach Law Firm Scarcely Misses a Step

In a recent discussion of leading plaintiffs firms filing class actions related to the subprime mortgage crisis, what Wall Street Journal Law Blog described as “San Diego-based plaintiffs powerhouse Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins” received prominent mention. Not mentioned at all in the post was the firm’s former name…

Feb 15, 2008 11:16 PM CST

Plea Deal: Miami City Attorney Resigns, Gets 1 Year Probation

Following criticism last year over his lavish spending of city money on municipal legal perks, Miami’s city attorney has agreed to resign and plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of making false official statements. Jorge Fernandez is to receive one year of probation under a plea deal that concludes a…

Feb 15, 2008 6:28 PM CST

Jury Duty Scam May Put Postal Worker in Prison

When a postal worker in Washington, D.C., had to serve on a jury in an extended federal trial, the government paid him his usual salary. But there were days that the jury was excused, and Joseph Winstead never reported to his job as a mail processor, yet was still paid.…

Feb 14, 2008 5:01 PM CST

‘Scrivener’ Closing Attorney Ruined By $19M Real Estate Fraud

Atlanta attorney R. Joseph Costanzo Jr. was a little fish in sea of bigtime mortgage fraud, according to his defense lawyer. But after two years of closing fraudulent real estate deals in the Atlanta area as part of a $19 million “flipping” scheme that reportedly involved at least 21 people,…

Feb 12, 2008 1:34 AM CST