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Ohio Republican Fundraiser Charged with Making Illegal Campaign Contributions
Prominent Ohio Republican campaign fundraiser Thomas Noe was indicted for making illegal contributions to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004. Noe has ties to a number of elected officials in Ohio, including Governor Taft, and the probe of his activities began when an investment in rare coins by the Ohio workers compensation fund that he arranged…
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Eleventh Circuit Upholds 135 Year Sentence for RICO Conviction
The Eleventh Circuit upheld the RICO conviction of Dwight York, head of the so-called Nuwaubian tribe, a religious sect that claimed various roots, including Native American, Islamic, and Hebrew foundations. The charges involved violations of the Mann Act for transporting children across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual relations and money laundering…
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Refco Executive Cooperating in Government Investigation
The Wall Street Journal reports (here) that Santo Maggio, the former head of Refco’s securities unit, is cooperating in the government’s investigation of Phillip Bennett, former CEO of Refco who was charged with one count of securities fraud. It was the revelation of accounting fraud related to receivables on the company’s books for which Bennett…
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Subpoena for E-Mails of DeLay Associates
A Travis County grand jury issued a subpoena to three associates of Rep. Tom DeLay, who were also charged in the conspiracy and money laundering indictments, seeking copies of e-mails sent in 2002. This is sure to draw a strongly-worded response from the defense side. It’s interesting that the grand jury continues to investigate the…
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Scrushy and Former Alabama Governor Siegelman Indicted on Bribery Charges
The government unsealed an indictment of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy for allegedly paying $500,000 in bribes to a campaign committee for former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman in exchange for an appointment to a state board involved in approving, among other things, construction of hospitals. The indictment, returned in May but sealed because of the…
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Philadelphia City Councilman Charged With Corruption
Philadelphia City Councilman Rick Mariano, who made a brief sojourn to the top of City Hall last week to contemplate his circumstances, was indicted along with five others on corruption, conspiracy, and tax charges by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania that alleges he accepted $30,000 in bribes to assist in…
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Twisting in the Wind
The latest AP report (here) has Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald meeting with Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan, who is responsible for (among other things) overseeing the grand jury and dealing with the administrative details for the courthouse, after a three hour grand jury session. Was Fitzgerald seeking an extension of the grand jury, or…
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When a “Stupid Mistake” Is Not Enough Proof of Willfulness for Insider Trading
A recent Second Circuit decision in United States v. Cassese (available on court website here) deals with the always-tricky issue of interpreting the "willfully" element in a securities fraud prosecution. The case involves the CEO of Computer Horizons Corp., John Cassese, whose company received a tender offer from Compuware Corp. that it turned down. A…
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“Financial Pastor” Who Conducted a Ponzi Scheme Receives 21-Year Sentence
William Warren touted himself to churches and religious organizations as a "financial pastor" who possessed special expertise in investments and promised outsized returns. Like most everything that sounds too good to be true, it wasn’t, and he entered a guilty plea to mail fraud, securities fraud, and embezzlement for bilking over 140 investors out of…
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Bausch & Lomb Finds Problems In Its Brazilian Subsidiary
Bausch & Lomb Inc. disclosed that an accounting fraud problem in its Brazilian subsidiary may require the company to postpone filing its quarterly financial report due to problems with its books and records. The company issued a press release that the general manager and others in its BLIO subsidiary tried to hide pension compensation by…
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