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Are Lawyers Getting Away Unscathed?
An article in the Washington Post (here) makes the provocative point that lawyers have largely avoided the fallout from the recent rounds of corporate and accounting scandals, asserting that "lawyers serving fraud-ridden companies have emerged relatively unscathed." The article contrasts lawyers with the two large accounting firms, Arthur Andersen and KPMG, that have been involved…
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Is Kobi Alexander Really in Sri Lanka?
We passed along last week the report that former Comverse Technologies CEO Kobi Alexander, a fugitive from a Brooklyn indictment charging him in connection with stock options backdating at the company, had been located by a private detective, Moshe Buller, hiding out in Sri Lanka. A report in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz (here) raises some…
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Is the Government Padding Its Stats?
An earlier post (here) discusses the settlement between federal prosecutors and Schering-Plough related to Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the pricing of certain drugs produced by the company and possible kickbacks paid to doctors. Rather than enter a deferred prosecution agreement, which is more the norm these days, a subsidiary, Schering Sales Corporation, entered a…
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Lord Black’s Assets Frozen
A judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued an order freezing the Canadian assets of Lord Conrad Black, former CEO of Hollinger International and a defendant (along with three other former Hollinger executives) in a federal court indictment charging fraud, conspiracy, and RICO related to transactions with the company. Black is out on…
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Former CFO Settles SEC Insider Trading Case Over Trading in Takeover Target
Maybe he didn’t think he was doing anything wrong, or perhaps just fell asleep at the switch, but one expects more from a CFO, so whatever caused Tom Mitchell to buy a piddling amount of stock in a company has turned out not to be worth the hassle. Mitchell was CFO of Ferguson Enterprises, a…
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What Not to Do at Trial
The Sixth Circuit affirmed the insider trading, conspiracy, obstruction, and false statement convictions of former Ohio State University business school professor Roger Blackwell (United States v. Blackwell here), and the case contains an important, if rather obvious, lesson in what a defendant should not do during testimony of a crucial witness. Blackwell was convicted of…
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No Deferred Prosecution Agreement to Schering Sales Corporation
According to a press release of the US Attorney’s Office in Boston here, "Delaware corporation Schering-Plough Corporation, together with its subsidiary, Schering Sales Corporation have agreed to pay a total of $435,000,000 to resolve criminal charges and civil liabilities in connection with illegal sales and marketing programs for its drugs Temodar for use in the treatment…
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Katrina Fraud
With hurricane season started, it is not surprising to see the government continuing to indict individuals related to Katrina. According to Alabama News (AP) here, 15 individuals were just indicted on allegations of falsely claiming money from FEMA. A DOJ press release here , reports on the sentencing of another individual for filing a false…
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Yet Another Deferred Prosecution Agreement – Prudential Equity Group
DOJ issued a transcript today here of Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty’s Press Conference regarding the deferred prosecution agreement entered into by Prudential Equity Group, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc. The agreement calls for Prudential to "pay $600 million in fines, restitution and penalties." According to McNulty, this settlement is the "largest…
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Anderson Back in Jail for Contempt
Greg Anderson, former personal trainer for San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, is back in jail for another stint after being held in civil contempt for refusing to answer questions about steroid use by Bonds and other athletes. Anderson served a little over two weeks in jail in July for refusing to testify before the…
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