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Beware the Disgruntled IT Employee
William Shea was a program manager for a debt collection company who was having some problems at work. Shortly after being placed on a "performance improvement plan" — a sure sign of potential trouble — Shea reacted by using his computer skills to wreak havoc on the company’s financial records. Shea was convicted for violating…
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Mortgage Fraud Doesn’t End
In another sure sign that the housing bubble has skewed the real estate and mortgage market, here’s another case of real estate brokers engaging in fraudulent activities to qualify borrowers for loans for which they are wild unqualified. Indeed, some of the borrowers were illegal aliens. According to a press release (here) issued by the…
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Eight Marsh Inc. Executives Indicted
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced the indictment today of eight former executives of March Inc., one of the insurance subsidiaries of Marsh & McLennan Cos., on fraud, antitrust, and larceny charges related to bid-rigging for insurance quotes. According to a press release (here) issued by the AG’s Office: [D]efendants and other Marsh employees…
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Former Democratic National Committee Finance Chair Pleads Guilty to Attempted Extortion
It must the the time of year when prosecutions related to political officials come to fruition. An AP story (here) discusses the guilty plea of Joseph Cari, who served as Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee, for demanding that an investment company hire a sham consultant for $850,000 if it wanted to manage funds…
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SEC Sues Biopure for False Statements About Pending Drug Approval
The SEC filed a securities fraud action against Biopure Corp., a biotech company, its former CEO, Thomas More, former senior VP Howard Richman, and current General Counsel, Jane Kober, related to misleading statements made about FDA approval of the company’s synthetic blood product. According to the Commission’s Litigation Release (here): [B]eginning in April 2003, Biopure…
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Ratzlaf Redux: Intent for Structuring
In Ratzlaf v. U.S., 510 U.S. 65 (1994), the Supreme Court interpreted the "willfully" element for a currency structuring violation under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5324 to require proof that the defendant knew the structuring was illegal. Congress responded rather promptly to the Court’s holding by dropping willfulness from the statute, so that now all the…
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Key Massachusetts Republican Charged With Money Laundering
The Boston Globe reports here that "[t]he vice chair[ ] and former treasurer of the Massachusetts Republican Party was arrested yesterday on federal money-laundering." The case arises from his representation of a criminal client who has agreed to cooperate. And to make matters worse, he does not appear to be getting much support from his…
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Mortgage Fraud Remains A Top Issue
A year ago, CNN wrote here that the FBI was issuing warnings of "rampant fraud in the mortgage industry." The Washington Post reported here that "FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified . . . at a Senate Intelligence hearing that 550 investigations of mortgage fraud were conducted in fiscal 2004, compared with 102 in…
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How Many Times Can You Re-Indict A Person?
According to the Dallas Morning News here, another indictment has been issued, with new charges, against "associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay." The new charges relate to campaign contributions. And as one might suspect, defense counsel is complaining about the defendants being indicted "three times for the same alleged acts." (See also post…
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Enron Broadband Case to Be Retried With New Configuration
Looks like the Enron Broadband trial may go into round two. As previously noted here, despite a lengthy first trial, no one was found guilty. Three former Enron executives were found not guilty on some counts, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on other counts against these three individuals. Additionally two other individuals,…
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