Category: White-collar Crime
Latest U.S. Efforts to Prosecute Trade Secret Theft Hit a Few Snags
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced an initiative to step up its enforcement of trade secret theft. In a February 20 press conference, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama administration aimed to make it a top priority to prosecute intellectual property crimes. At the press conference, the DOJ unveiled a report… Read More
China, Other Nations Need to Crack Down on Software Piracy
Reuters recently quoted Tian Lipu, head of China’s State Intellectual Office, complaining about China’s reputation for rampant software piracy. According to Tian, “China is the world’s largest payer for patent rights, for trademark rights, for royalties, and one of the largest for buying real software . . . We pay the most. People rarely talk… Read More
DOJ Opinion on Key FCPA Issue Makes Sense, But What’s Next?
We have previously advocated for the Department of Justice to employ a more narrow reading of the term “foreign official” in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Therefore, we were pleased to see that the DOJ recently issued an opinion that parsed the definition and came to the conclusion that a member of a foreign royal… Read More
Founding Partner Jeff Ifrah: Why the DOJ Settlement With Poker Stars is a Win-Win
When online gaming is successful, Ifrah says, players participate in all aspects of the industry – including in the casinos. This is a great development for the gaming industry and great for business and for the nation’s economy
Insider Trading Defendant’s Decision to Take the Stand Doesn’t Prevent Conviction
In electing to testify in his own defense at his federal criminal trial for insider trading, hedge fund operator Doug Whitman made a decision that no other defendants in similar recent prosecutions had chosen. He was still convicted on all counts by a jury, just as were the other defendants who did not take the… Read More
Executive’s Internet Searches Give SEC the Road Map to Make an Arrest
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb with insider trading, citing his Internet searches as support that he tried to cover up his illegal acts. As a high-level executive in the treasury department at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Robert D. Ramnarine helped the company target, evaluate, and acquire other pharmaceutical companies…. Read More
Department of Justice Enters Historic Agreement with PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker
Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that PokerStars will acquire Full Tilt Poker’s assets in a transaction that ends the DOJ’s civil forfeiture case against Full Tilt. Both Full Tilt and PokerStars ran online poker sites in the U.S., and in 2011 the DOJ charged both of them with… Read More
DOJ’s Response to Grassley Gives Details, but Not the Right Details
The Justice Department showed off some fancy dance moves in a recent sidestep it used to respond to an inquiry from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Grassley wanted detail from Justice to support its claims that it has brought thousands of mortgage fraud cases, including numerous convictions against Wall Street execs, following the 2008 housing crisis…. Read More
An Interview With Jeff Ifrah of Ifrah Law
On April 15, 2012, the White Collar Crime Prof Blog ran an interview with Jeff Ifrah, founding partner of Ifrah Law. Here is the text of the interview, which can also be found here. Q: Why did you start the blog? A: We wanted to share our analysis of breaking news in the… Read More
Ifrah Law Blog Wrap-Up for November 2011
In November 2011, we at Ifrah Law expressed our views on a number of current issues in our blogs, Crime in the Suites and FTC Beat. This post summarizes and wraps up our thoughts from the month. ACLU Wins FOIA Appeal on Prosecutors’ Use of Cell Phone Location Data The Justice Department must turn… Read More
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