A Blog About Current Issues in White Collar Defense

In the wake of the catastrophic consequences of last month’s “Black Friday” for online poker players in the United States, many players are wondering about their next step. Pocketfives.com recently interviewed Congressman Barney Frank and although he agreed that is “difficult to figure out what to do,” he still had some concrete advice for the… Read More

Online poker players in the U.S. were shaken on April 15 when the federal government shut down the country’s three biggest poker websites. Suddenly, players were without their favorite sites and could not access the funds that they kept there. Now, players are beginning to pick up the pieces. Since there is no federal law… Read More

On May 3, 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil case against Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, asserting that Deutsche Bank was liable for more than $1 billion to the U.S. government for its statements and actions during the mortgage meltdown of the last few years. This case is one of the few… Read More

In December 2010, Bernie Madoff contacted the Financial Times to say that he was ready for his second prison interview. It had been two years since news broke of Madoff’s 16-year, $65 billion Ponzi scheme, and just 17 months since he began serving his 150-year sentence. By the time he was interviewed, his oldest son,… Read More

Over the course of several years, officials of the United States Department of Justice have made clear the Department’s intent to enforce vigorously the dictates of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In general terms, the FCPA prohibits the offering or giving of things of value to any foreign official to assist in obtaining or… Read More

On April 1, 2011, David Deitch started work as a partner at the Ifrah Law Firm. David is an experienced trial lawyer and former Department of Justice counterterrorism prosecutor. Because he will now be a regular contributor to this blog, the editor of Crime in the Suites conducted this brief interview to introduce David to… Read More

Yesterday, April 7, 2011, saw a historic moment in igaming as the District of Columbia became the first American jurisdiction to enact a law that allows online poker wagering. The amendment, called the “Lottery Modernization Act of 2010” for the year it was introduced, is part of a larger budget bill passed by the D.C…. Read More

High-stakes criminal and civil litigation can sometimes have major consequences not only for the defendant, but also for others involved such as defense counsel. On March 23, 2011, Joseph Nacchio – the former Qwest CEO now serving a 70-month prison sentence for insider trading – filed suit against the lawyers who represented him in criminal… Read More

Last month, the Federal Medicare Strike Force charged 111 defendants in nine states for their alleged participation in fraud schemes that reportedly cost Medicare almost a quarter billion dollars. Last month’s sweep resulted from the Justice Department’s and Health and Human Services’ work with the FBI, the HHS  inspector general, and various state and local law… Read More