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Alaskan Legislator Found Guilty of Corruption
Former Alaska House of Representatives Speaker Peter Kott, who served seven terms in the legislature, was found guilty of conspiracy, extortion, and bribery for accepting benefits from oil services firm Veco; the jury acquitted him on a wire fraud charge The amount Kott received is fairly small, approximately $9,000, but recordings made in the undercover…
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Commission Proposed to Investigate Iraq-Afghanistan Contracting
Senators Dan Webb and Claire McCaskill have proposed the creation of a Commission on Wartime Contracting to investigate allegations of fraud and abuse in the award of contracts and the broader issue of the use of private contractors in war zones. The Commission is based on the Truman Commission established during World War II to…
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Prosecutors Try to Block Duress/Necessity Defense in Cunningham Bribery Case
Federal prosecutors in San Diego filed a motion to preclude Brent Wilkes, who is accused of paying former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham over $650,000 in bribes, from raising claims of duress and necessity as a defense to the charges. These classic criminal law defenses are unusual in white collar crime cases because the threat is…
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Funds for Schooling?
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois issued an indictment against "a commercial real estate developer and property manager who once proposed building the world’s tallest building in Chicago." The government’s press release alleges that this developer "allegedly used the fraudulently obtained funds for such personal expenses as purchasing antiques, fine wine, and…
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Upcoming Conferences
ABA Securities Fraud Conference – Date: October 25-26, 2007, The Fairmont Hotel – Washington, DC Brochure – Download final20brochure20sfr07.pdf NACDL – ‘Defending the White Collar Case: In & Out of Court’–In partnership with Georgetown CLEGeorgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC (esp)
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No Compliance Program?
Ginger Thompson and Eric Schmitt’s article in the New York Times, titled, Graft in Military Contracts Spread from Base makes one wonder how ten million dollars worth of bribes could have happened, let alone been hidden. One has to wonder if there was an appropriate "effective program" in place to monitor and promote due diligence. …
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N.Y.’s Commission on Public Integrity
New York State’s new Commission on Public Integrity went into effect today. This new body comes from the Public Employees Reform Act, and combines the State Ethics Commission and the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying. (see here). Membership on the Commission is as follows: "The Commission consists of five members appointed by the Governor, one…
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Probe of U.S. Attorney in Minneapolis
Dan Eggen of the Washington Post reports on a probe of the United States Attorney in Minneapolis. These kind of allegations may make someone think twice about going into public service. After all, a Yale Law School grad could probably make a lot more money in private practice. But maybe it should make everyone think…
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Now the Government Claims Conflict of Interest in KPMG Case
Both the New York Times here and the ABAJrl.com here are reporting that prosecutors in the KPMG related case are trying to conflict-out two defense counsel. The prosecutors are claiming that the two defense counsel may have provided legal advice to David Amir Makov, who is now cooperating with the government. Interestingly, the ABAJrl.com states…
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Collateral Consequences to Bill Campbell
Former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell was found guilty of three counts of a tax violation (see here). But because he held a law license, the punishment does not end with the sentence. Defendants who hold law licenses also have to contend with disciplinary charges. And in the case of Bill Campbell, the Atlanta Jrl Constitution…
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