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White Collar

  • August 21, 2025

    'Sustainable' Fintech Leader Cops To $248M Investor Fraud

    The co-founder of bankrupt financial services company Aspiration Partners Inc. agreed on Thursday to plead guilty to defrauding investors and lenders.

  • August 21, 2025

    US Navy Sailor Found Guilty Of Spying For China For $12K

    A former U.S. Navy machinist's mate has been found guilty by a California federal jury of espionage and export violations when he shared sensitive military defense information about amphibious assault vessels, their weapons, and desalination systems to a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for $12,000.

  • August 21, 2025

    Conn. Resident Lost $1.2M In AI Crypto Scam, Feds Say

    Federal authorities want to condemn two cryptocurrency wallets tied to a scam that ripped off a Connecticut resident for $1.2 million, according to a forfeiture complaint that says the victim was roped into a fraudulent "school" that supposedly used highly accurate artificial intelligence to make trading recommendations.

  • August 21, 2025

    NC Judge Warns Sabotage Trial Might Be A 'Slugfest'

    A North Carolina Business Court judge hinted Thursday that he might let a jury decide whether an ordinary person could deduce the identities of a couple who claim they were defamed online by their former friends, but he also urged the feuding families to consider what it might ultimately cost to take their case to trial.

  • August 21, 2025

    Nikola Ch. 11 Plan Ignores Trump Pardon, Founder Says

    Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of electric-truck maker Nikola who was convicted of securities fraud, has asked the Delaware bankruptcy court not to allow the company to subordinate his $69 million claim, saying its Chapter 11 plan doesn't accurately account for the full presidential pardon he received earlier this year.

  • August 21, 2025

    Mich. Couple Say They Were Coerced Into Arbitration Pact

    A Michigan couple have sued a Mexican resort company in a bitter feud over a timeshare, arguing that they were jailed in Mexico and forced, under threat of further imprisonment, to sign a settlement agreement sending any additional aspects of the dispute to arbitration in Canada.

  • August 21, 2025

    Mass. Sheriff Pleads Not Guilty To Pot Extortion Scheme

    Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins pled not guilty Thursday in a federal courtroom to charges that he used his position to obtain pre-IPO shares in a cannabis retailer, then a refund when the investment lost money.

  • August 21, 2025

    Texas High Court Takes Down Hurdle On Campaign Prosecutions

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that prosecutors do not need referrals from the Texas Ethics Commission to bring campaign misconduct charges, reversing its own recent decision that had thrown out a grand jury indictment against a former judicial candidate.

  • August 21, 2025

    Ex-Prosecutor Sworn In As Ga. US Atty In Southern District

    A longtime Georgia attorney, who served as chair of Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles and previously served as a district attorney, was sworn in this week as interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

  • August 21, 2025

    Judge Finds Habba Unlawfully Serving As NJ's US Atty

    Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and his pick to remain the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, was unlawfully given an extension of her temporary post after her "interim" appointment expired, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 21, 2025

    SEC Taps Military Judge To Head Enforcement Efforts

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday announced the appointment of a senior judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces to lead its enforcement division.

  • August 21, 2025

    Gov't Shrugs Off Sentencing Errors, IRS Leaker Tells DC Circ.

    The IRS contractor appealing his five-year prison sentence for leaking thousands of wealthy people's tax returns to the media accused the U.S. of glossing over sentencing errors that unfairly burdened him with "the harshest sentence possible," he told the D.C. Circuit.

  • August 21, 2025

    Oklahoma Gov. Challenges Tulsa's Tribal Jurisdiction Deal

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is asking the state's high court to block a settlement between the city of Tulsa and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, arguing that without intervention the agreement will erode state sovereignty, undermine public safety and invite other municipalities to surrender their legal obligations.

  • August 21, 2025

    NY Appeals Court Throws Out Trump's $500M Fraud Penalty

    A divided New York state appeals court panel on Thursday tossed a nearly $500 million civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump and his sons, companies and their executives, ruling that the fine was "excessive," but kept in place a judge's finding of liability.

  • August 21, 2025

    Adams Ally Hit With New Bribery, Corruption Charges

    A former top aide to New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday was hit with a slew of new bribery charges, with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg saying she engaged in a "wide-ranging series" of conspiracies alongside her son and others in the city.

  • August 20, 2025

    Feds Lose Bid To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Files In NY

    A Manhattan federal judge Wednesday rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the trafficking case against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the government has not justified unsealing the materials and did not give Epstein's survivors sufficient notice before filing its request.

  • August 20, 2025

    Exec's Friends Made $1M On Insider Trades, SEC Says

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is suing the former head of a Kaman Corp. subsidiary and his friends in New York federal court, accusing him of insider trading ahead of the aircraft component maker's $1.8 billion sale to a private equity firm.

  • August 20, 2025

    Ohio Justices Free Bank From $77M Guaranty Disclosure Duty

    The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that nothing in state law required Huntington Bank to inform a co-signer of a $77 million loan guaranty about the risks associated with signing the deal with two other partners, one of whom later pled guilty to a check-kiting scheme.

  • August 20, 2025

    PPP Loan Fraudster Gets 1.5 Years For $2M Scheme

    A former Chicago resident was sentenced to 18 months in prison Wednesday for his role in submitting false applications to the federal government to secure nearly $2 million in paycheck protection and economic injury loans.

  • August 20, 2025

    7th Circ. Backs JPMorgan Traders' Fraud, Spoofing Convictions

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday refused to throw out the convictions of three former JPMorgan traders for manipulating the market with fake orders for precious metals, saying there was "ample evidence" backing the jury's verdicts and that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision doomed one of their key arguments on appeal.

  • August 20, 2025

    Investors Pan FirstEnergy's 'Unprecedented' Discovery Appeal

    A group of FirstEnergy Corp. investors is urging the Sixth Circuit not to hear a dispute over their access to internal investigation documents produced in the wake of a $1 billion bribery scandal, saying the documents weren't privileged and that granting the appeal would be "unprecedented."

  • August 20, 2025

    Abrego Garcia Seeks To Toss Feds' 'Vindictive' Charges

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the government erroneously deported to El Salvador in March, has asked a Tennessee federal judge to dismiss federal human smuggling charges he contends constitute retaliation for challenging his removal.

  • August 20, 2025

    Fla. Man Who Evaded $7M In Federal Taxes Gets Probation

    A Florida investor who admitted to cheating the Internal Revenue Service out of $7 million in taxes was sentenced Wednesday to probation after telling a federal judge he suffers from serious health issues, including Stage 4 kidney cancer and early-onset dementia.

  • August 20, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Rejects Retrial Of SF Gang Members

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the life sentences of two San Francisco gang members for committing a murder at a 2019 funeral, finding that the district court correctly refused to bifurcate their trial since legal precedent prohibited it.

  • August 20, 2025

    State AGs Sidelined From Sandoz Price-Fixing Deal

    A group of over 40 states and territories cannot intervene in a $275 million settlement resolving generic-drug price-fixing claims against Sandoz because they only have a nominal interest in the suit that fails to confer standing, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.

Expert Analysis

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

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    Though the U.S. has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to reverse any setback in anti-corruption enforcement, potentially heightening prosecution risk for companies headquartered in the U.S., says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • A Tale Of Two Admins: Parsing 1st Half Of SEC's FY 2025

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    The first half of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, was unusually eventful, marked by a flurry of enforcement actions in the last three months of former Chair Gary Gensler's tenure and a prompt pivot after Inauguration Day, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • How Attorneys Can Make The Most Of A Deposition Transcript

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    With recent amendments to federal evidence rules now in effect, it’s more important than ever to make sure that deposition transcripts are clear and precise, and a few key strategies can help attorneys get the most out of a transcript before, during and after a deposition, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

  • A New Tool For Assessing Kickback Risks In Health Marketing

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    The Seventh Circuit's recent decision in U.S. v. Sorensen, reversing a conviction after trial of a durable medical equipment distributor, highlights two principle considerations for determining whether payments to marketers in healthcare are unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Crunching The Numbers Of Trump SEC's 1st 100 Days

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    During the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought significantly fewer stand-alone enforcement actions than at the beginning of the Biden and the first Trump administrations, with every one of the federal court complaints including allegations of fraudulent conduct, say attorneys at Dentons.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Enviro To Mid-Law

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    Practitioners leaving a longtime government role for private practice — as when I departed the U.S. Department of Justice’s environmental enforcement division — should prioritize finding a firm that shares their principles, values their experience and will invest in their transition, says John Cruden at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • AG Watch: Letitia James' Major Influence On Federal Litigation

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    While the multistate cases brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James appear to be based upon her interpretation of the effect of the Trump administration's policies on New York state and its residents, most also have a decidedly political tone to them, says Dennis Vacco at Lippes Mathias.

  • 3 Change Management Tools To Boost Compliance Efforts

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    As companies grapple with rapidly changing regulations and expectations, leaders charged with implementing their organizations’ compliance programs should look to change management principles to make the process less costly and more effective, says Liisa Thomas at Sheppard Mullin.

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