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Ameriquest Reaches a Deal With States
The Wall Street Journal reports here that Ameriquest Mortgage Co reached a settlement with State Attorney Generals in which the company will "pay $325 million and change some of its practices." The Ameriquest website here notes that: "Ameriquest will implement a series of measures to enhance the company’s business practices while continuing to help consumers…
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Deferred and Non Prosecution Agreement Report
A Report called "Crime Without Conviction: The Rise of Deferred and Non Prosecution Agreements," was released in late December by Corporate Crime Reporter. (see here) It provides fascinating data on the government’s use of deferred and non-prosecution agreements, with detailed accounts of the many agreements formed between companies and the government. The report states that…
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Former Mayor Bill Campbell’s Trial Begins
Jurors for the trial of former Mayor Bill Campbell (post) have been selected (AJC here). The jury consists of seven blacks and five whites, and seven men and five women. (post here) Last week pre-trial motions resolved some of the evidentiary issues that might arise in the trial. (AJC here). The AJC has extensive coverage…
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What is Favorable Press in a Trial?
AP reports here regarding claims that Richard Scrushy paid for favorable press in his trial. Scrushy, in response, has a statement on his website here denying the claim. The bottom line is – does it make a difference since the jurors should not have been reading newspaper articles related to the case. (esp)
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Libby’s Defense
"Scooter" Libby’s defense is starting to show more and more. (See Washington Post here) The Wall Street Journal reports here of possible forthcoming subpeonas of the defense (interestingly the motion was filed jointly with the prosecution). Two themes seem to be appearing: 1) a defense of the "too busy executive" (see post here), and now…
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Survivor: Tax Evasion Trial
The tax evasion trial of Richard Hatch, the first Survivor winner, may take a strange turn if Hatch testifies in accord with a statement made by his lawyer. An AP story (here) states that during a break in Hatch’s testimony in federal court in Rhode Island for not reporting the $1 million prize and other…
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Does the Push Against Organizations Paying Attorney’s Fees for Employees Violate Their Constitutional Rights?
Among the flurry of motions filed by the defendants in the KPMG tax shelter prosecution is one seeking dismissal of the indictment because the government improperly pressured KPMG into terminating the payment of legal fees to its former partners charged in the case. The Department of Justice’s Thompson Memo (here) on prosecuting business organizations states…
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FBI Releases Its 2005 Computer Crime Survey
The FBI released its 2005 Computer Crime Survey on Jan. 18, 2006 (here). The Survey compiles the responses form over 2000 public and private organizations in four states, and contains the following "key findings": Frequency of attacks. Nearly nine out of 10 organizations experienced computer security incidents in a year’s time; 20% of them indicated…
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Seymour Lazar Asks, “Did Anybody Get Screwed?”
Seymour Lazar is a lawyer in Southern California indicted last year (along with another lawyer) for allegedly taking secret payments from prominent plaintiff class action firm Milberg Weiss to serve as the representative plaintiff in various securities fraud and consumer cases. A front-page article in the Wall Street Journal (here) includes an interview of Lazar…
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Spinning the Media
There is an interesting phenomenon recently in which defendants charged in white collar crime cases have been speaking out in the press about their cases and asserting their innocence (or at least lack of guilt). In a story in the New York Times (here) that could be titled "Extreme Makeover — Defense War Room Edition,"…
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