Impeachment Trial of Federal Judge Raises Issue of ‘Kickbacks’
The impeachment trial of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr. is continuing before a U.S. Senate committee. Porteous, a federal judge in New Orleans, is accused of four counts of corruption. Each count is referred to as an article of impeachment. The first article of impeachment involves what some have described as a “kickback”…
Read MoreWhy Did Craigslist End ‘Adult Services’ Section?
We noted last May that the popular Craigslist website faced major flak from state attorneys general and from anti-prostitution groups over its “Adult Personals” section, which many say was a thinly veiled venue for prostitution. On September 3, Craigslist abruptly discontinued the “Adult Personals” section and replaced the link with the word “Censored.” Craigslist didn’t…
Read MoreMd. Case: An Issue of Medical Judgment or Criminal Fraud?
On September 1, 2010, John R. McLean, a former cardiologist based in Salisbury, Md., was indicted by a federal grand jury for health care fraud and for making false statements to Medicare and Medicaid. McLean is charged with performing operations to insert stents – devices to treat coronary disease – in the arteries of patients…
Read MoreA Conservative Argument For Legalizing Online Gambling
Conservative columnist Michelle Minton just wrote an interesting op-ed piece for Forbes.com on why Republicans, and by extension, conservatives in general, should favor legalized Internet gambling. Minton’s arguments come in the wake of the recent passage by the House Financial Services Committee of a bill that would legalize Internet gambling, including online poker, in the…
Read MoreLesson From Ex-Congressman’s Plight: Follow Rules, Come Clean
Federal prosecutors often take very seriously the prohibitions on illegal lobbying and on withholding the truth from the FBI. That’s one of the lessons that former U.S. Rep. Mark Siljander probably learned last month when he pleaded guilty to two federal charges relating to his alleged ties to an Islamic charity claimed to have funded…
Read MoreIn Lerach Case, An Interesting Sentencing Distinction
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles just took an interesting and nuanced position concerning a very high-profile request for community service as part of a guilty plea. Disgraced plaintiffs attorney William Lerach pleaded guilty in 2007 to a charge of conspiring to obstruct justice and make false statements in many of his law firm’s…
Read MoreHonest Services Fraud — Still Alive and Kicking?
We wrote recently that the very recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Skilling, limiting the reach of the federal “honest services” statute, may have an immediate impact on the ongoing case against Kevin A. Ring, a former associate of Jack Abramoff. See “Skilling Having Impact on Pending Honest Services Fraud Cases,” July 28,…
Read MoreCourt Places Limits on DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Powers
The D.C. Circuit recently handed a significant victory to anyone with assets in the U.S. – especially anyone under investigation in another country for violation of that country’s laws. As reported on the Blog of Legal Times, the D.C. Circuit issued a decision on July 16 holding that the Department of Justice could not seize…
Read MoreFederal Sentencing: A Longer Sentence For Post-Conviction Comments to the Press?
Lynne Stewart, an attorney who was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to a terrorist group by passing messages to and from her imprisoned client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, to his followers, was re-sentenced last month by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in the Southern District of New York to 10 years in prison,…
Read MoreSkilling Having Impact on Pending Honest Services Fraud Cases
On June 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its much-awaited ruling in Skilling v. United States, which limited the scope of honest-services fraud. The next step is to look at the lower courts and see how they are interpreting the Skilling decision. After comments made very recently by U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle…
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