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Game Playing on the KPMG Execs Case?
Check out the Wall Street Jrl here discussing the recent move by prosecutors to request the court dismiss some of the cases against KPMG executives. Would prosecutors really seek dismissal of cases to secure the tactical advantage of having the matter finalized for appeal? And if that is the case, should prosecutors be held to…
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Money Laundering Charges in Routine White Collar Case Against Civil Rights Attorney
It seems like there are more and more cases of money laundering charges being added onto routine white collar cases. One has to wonder if Congress intended for this statute to be used this way. (See Teresa E. Adams, Tacking on Money Laundering Charges to White Collar Crimes: What Did Congress Intend, and What Are…
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McNulty Fires Back at Goodling
The congressional investigation into the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys is attracting much less attention these days, but the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative and Commercial Law presses on, with testimony from outgoing Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty on June 21. In May, Monica Goodling, former White House liaison for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, told…
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The Next Big Wave of Prosecutions to Hit Wall Street?
BusinessWeek has an interesting article (here) about a developing criminal investigation related to the stock lending practices at some of Wall Street’s leading brokerage firms, including Morgan Stanley. The case involves possible kickbacks and other gratuities to employees who work in the stock loan departments of the firms from middlemen who help obtain shares as…
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Allied Capital Settles with the SEC
Business development and private lending company Allied Capital Corp. settled an administrative action with the SEC related to maintaining records for the valuation of the company’s investments in the securities of other corporations. According to the administrative order (here): From the quarter ended June 30, 2001 through the quarter ended March 31, 2003, Allied violated…
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Reasonableness Presumption for Guidelines Sentences Upheld
The Supreme Court upheld the appellate presumption of the reasonableness of a sentence falling within the parameters of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in Rita v. United States (available here). The majority opinion by Justice Breyer states, "[T]he presumption reflects the fact that, by the time an appeals court is considering a within-Guidelines sentence on review,…
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“It’s Not Illegal If You Don’t Get Caught”
There’s an old saying in the NFL that "it’s not holding if you don’t get caught." A variation of that adage came up in the prosecution of former Brocade CEO Gregory Reyes for options backdating when a former human resources employee testified that Reyes once stated, "It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught." While…
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Conrad Black = “Stubborn but Innocent”
The prosecution of Lord Conrad Black and three other defendants has reached the final argument stage, when pithy phrases are tucked into seemingly endless discussions of the details of the case. Lord Black’s attorney, Edward Genson, completed his closing by going into a second day that reiterated themes set forth in the opening, such as…
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Former Enron Finance Officer Settles SEC Securities Fraud Action
Former Enron treasurer Jeffrey McMahon, who later became its CFO and then president, settled an SEC civil enforcement action related to the company’s accounting for the Nigerian Barge transaction in 1999 designed to boost its income and other financial disclosure issues. McMahon succeeded former CFO Andrew Fastow in October 2001, and became Enron’s president and…
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Reyes Trial Opens – Backdating
The backdating cases opened with the trial of Gregory Reyes, the former CEO of Brocade Communications. Justin Scheck reports at the Recorder, on Law.com, on how intent will be key defense argument. This argument is coupled with a claim of reliance on others – the accountants. With intent inferred from the circumstances, this can be…
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