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Intent – Key Issue in Skilling/Lay Trial
Mary Flood, who has been providing in the courtroom reporting of the Lay & Skilling trial for the Houston Chronicle, discusses a key issue of this case: Did the defendants act with intent and with the appropriate level required by the statutes charging them with criminal conduct? (here) The story looks at how intent can…
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Guilty Pleas on Stock Fraud Scheme
Fraud Update includes a link here to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia telling of pleas entered by two individuals to the crime of conspiracy to commit money laundering. According to the press release: "Evidence presented during the defendants’ plea hearings showed that beginning some time in…
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Lord Black Learns the Hard Way that Documents Don’t Get Much Protection
Lord Conrad Black lost his fight to keep a set of documents from being subpoenaed by federal prosecutors, and the decision provides a lesson that great care must be taken with such materials if you don’t want the government to get its hands on them. Before his indictment on fraud and RICO charges related to…
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Six Aides to Rep. Jefferson Subpoenaed in Corruption Probe
Six aides to Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia investigating corruption charges. A former aide to the Congressman, Brett Pfeffer, entered a guilty plea to conspiracy and corruption charges in January in which he detailed kickback demands by Rep. Jefferson related to…
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Former DeLay Aide to Plead Guilty to Corruption Charge
The AP reports (here) that Tony Rudy, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom DeLay when he was House Majority Leader, will plead guilty to taking $50,000 from superlobbyist Jack Abramoff to assist in blocking legislation on internet gambling and a postal rate increase that Abramoff’s clients opposed. In the Abramoff plea in Washington…
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TSA Attorney Is Target of Witness Tampering Investigation
Transportation Safety Administration attorney Carla Martin is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for possible witness tampering, according to a recently unsealed transcript from the Zacarias Moussaoui death penalty proceeding. Martin provided a number of government witnesses a copy of the transcript of the first day of the…
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Enron Nigerian Barge Trial Defendant Freed on Bail
The ever-vigilant Tom Kirkendall of the Houston’s Clear Thinkers blog posts a link (here) to an order by the Fifth Circuit directing the release of William Fuhs, one of the former Merrill Lynch investment bankers convicted in the Enron Nigerian Barge Trial. Oral arguments in the case took place a little over three weeks ago,…
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Fugitive Hedge Fund Manager Charged with Fraud
Kirk Wright, the CEO of International Management Associates (IMA) and manager of hedge funds that purportedly had assets of $180 million, was charged in a sealed criminal complaint with one count of mail fraud. An arrest warrant was issued for Wright on March 10, and he is a fugitive. Problems at IMA first surfaced in…
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Three KPMG Accountants Sanctioned for Fabricating Audit Workpapers
Three accountants on the KPMG audit team for Tenet Healthcare Corp. were sanctioned by the SEC for creating workpapers after the purported completion of the audit to make it appear that they had completed the work before issuing a clean opinion. The SEC administrative orders (here and here) described the conduct: These proceedings arise out…
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Embezzling to Pay for Your Dominatrix
What motivates someone to embezzle from a charity where the person works? There are lots of reasons to steal, and a new one to someone like me — who has led a very sheltered life — is embezzling to pay for trips from New York to see your dominatrix in Columbus, Ohio. Abraham Alexander admitted…
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