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Schnitzer Steel Settles Criminal and Civil FCPA Cases
Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., a Portland, Oregon, based-company that purchases and recycles scrap steel in the U.S. and abroad. The company settled an SEC action alleging that its employees paid bribes to managers of Korean and Chinese steel mills that are both privately-owned and government enterprises to ensure continued business in violation of the Foreign…
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Operation Truth or Consequences
The Department of Justice announced a number of indictments for bankruptcy fraud as part of a program called "Operation Truth or Consequences." The charges are part of a nationwide "sweep" aimed at protecting the integrity of the bankruptcy system, including eighteen cases charged on October 17 and 69 prosecutions in total. According to the press…
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Former Homestore CEO Sentenced to Fifteen Years
Former Homestore.com, Inc. CEO Stuart Wolff received a fifteen-year prison sentence for his role in the company’s accounting fraud through "round-trip" transactions to inflate revenues during the technology bubble. A jury convicted Wolff on charges of conspiracy, insider trading, filing false reports with the SEC, falsifying corporate records, and lying to company auditors. The insider…
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Does Congress Need an “Effective Program?”
Does Congress need an effective compliance program? The New York Times reports here on a congressional investigation that reveals that Randy Cunningham had been pressuring individuals to place federal business with certain military contractors. This comes in the wake of recent allegations of lack of oversight and quick action in the Mark Foley matter. So…
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Indictment Against Ken Lay Dismissed
There were no surprises in today’s dismissal of the indictment against Ken Lay. (see CNN here). As previously noted, the Fifth Circuit in an en banc decision ruled clearly on the status of a criminal conviction after the death of the accused but prior to a review of the case on appeal. (see here and…
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Wesley Snipes Charged with Tax Violations
Well-known action movie actor Wesley Snipes and two tax shelter promoters, Eddie Kahn and Douglas Rosile, were indicted (here) in Florida on tax, conspiracy, and false claim charges. They are accused of obtaining over $7 million in tax refunds from the IRS based on the "861 argument" that taxes are only owed on certain foreign…
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Homes of Representative’s Close Friend and Daughter Searched in Corruption Probe
In a potential new avenue for federal corruption investigators looking at Capitol Hill, the FBI searched the homes of a close friend and the daughter of Pennsylvania Representative Curt Weldon. The search warrants are related to an investigation of Representative Weldon involving possible assistance he gave a company, Solutions North America, owned by his daughter…
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Former FDA Chief to Plead Guilty to False Statement Charge
Dr. Lester Crawford, former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration for a bit over two months before he abruptly resigned in September 2005, will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of making a false writing and conflict of interest related to his failure to disclose stock ownership and income on his government disclosure forms. …
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Lynne Stewart Receives 28-Month Prison Term
Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart received a 28-month prison term for her convictions in 2005 for helping her client, an Egyptian sheik convicted of terrorist plots in 1995, communicate with his followers. The government sought the maximum sentence of thirty years, but U.S. District Judge John Koeltl found that Stewart had championed the poor in…
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Another Day, Another GC
The options-timing investigations claimed another general counsel, this time at KLA-Tencor, a Silicon Valley company, which announced that Stuart J. Nichols has resigned immediately from the position he held since 2000. According to a company press release (here), "incorrect measurement dates for certain stock option grants were used for financial accounting purposes, principally during the…
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