Category: White-collar Crime

April 15, 2016

Good News: The Feds Can’t Freeze Your Assets to Stop You from Hiring a Lawyer

Republished with permission from FEE.org, originally published April 12, 2016 There are limits to what the government can take from you. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Constitution forbids the government from freezing a defendant’s “untainted” assets in advance of prosecution. The ruling is a significant victory for those caught in the government’s crosshairs. It… Read More

March 7, 2016

Even Bad Guys Have Rights

This article first appeared February 29, 2016, on FEE.org – you can access this version here. Remember Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” notorious for raising the price of his company’s life-saving drug by some 5,000 percent? Did you know he was recently arrested for securities fraud (completely unrelated to the drug hike)? It didn’t take long… Read More

January 15, 2016

Halting Business And Seizing A Domain Without A Moment’s Notice

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons- Uploaded by NativeForeigner Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas proves to be one of the more interesting conventions to attend. 2016 did not disappoint: companies showed off cool innovations in displays, robotics, and integrated smart technology across the consumer products platform. Adding to the excitement at this year’s… Read More

October 15, 2015

Jumping To Judgment on For-Profit Education

  If you didn’t know any better, you might have gotten pretty fiery over for-profit education after reading one of the front page stories of Tuesday’s New York Times. The lengthy article titled “For-Profit Colleges Fail Standards, but Get Billions” is all about accusations of greedy institutions bilking taxpayers and taking advantage of students through… Read More

September 11, 2015

DOJ uses White Collar Prosecution for Election-Season Rabble Rousing

Beating their chests and breathing fire to rouse the polity, the Department of Justice recently came out with an announcement as earth shattering as the sun rising. The DOJ proclaimed it has adopted new policies to prioritize the prosecution of individuals for white-collar crime. Deputy Attorney General, Sally Q. Yates, was quoted in the New… Read More

June 2, 2015

U.S. Justice Department v. FIFA Executives and Others in Bribery Indictment

In an ironic twist, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a 47-count indictment this morning charging nine present and former officials of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (better known by its acronym, FIFA) and five sports marketing executives with fraud, racketeering, bribery and money laundering. The guilty pleas of four individuals and two entities relating… Read More

February 25, 2015

Court Reins In Prosecutorial Overreach in Insider Trading Cases

In an effort to reinstate powers stripped from them by the Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Newman and Chiasson, prosecutors have sought a rehearing of the landmark Second Circuit decision which severely curtailed the scope of insider trading cases. The case is one which has already seen a dramatic reversal, so it is perhaps… Read More

January 6, 2015

Even Governors Go To Jail

Photo Credit:  Steve Helber, AP This afternoon, the long-running saga of Robert McDonnell came to what may be the end (not counting appeals) when the former Virginia Governor was sentenced to serve two years in prison after a jury convicted him of bribery while in office.  As with many cases, this one has lessons to… Read More

August 29, 2014

Collateral Damage: Criminal Convictions and the Lasting Consequences

  Prosecutors and often even judges do not appreciate the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, regardless of whether it results from a trial or a plea agreement.  While the direct consequences of conviction are obvious – such as jail time, probation requirements, and fines – the collateral consequences are more insidious.  Yet sometimes those… Read More