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Westar Execs Convicted
While Westar Energy was working, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to restore power in places like Florida and Louisiana, a jury was convicting a couple of former executives of the company. The Kansas City Star, here, reports that David Wittig, former chair of the board at Westar, along with the "executive vice president and…
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Civil Insider Trading Case May Be Resolved With A Charity Benefitting
A civil action alleging insider trading may be resolved by a payment of $100 million dollars to a charity. The New York Times reports here that the CEO of Oracle has agreed to pay this sum "to resolve a lawsuit charging that he engaged in insider trading in 2001." The agreement is subject to approval…
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Enron and Job Growth?
A New York Times column by Daniel Gross (here) discusses a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper by two finance professors (at NYU and Rutgers) that seeks to draw a link between companies that have had to restate their earnings (from Jan. 1997 through June 2002) and the loss of jobs. The poster-child for…
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Judge Lake’s Modest Solution to the Recalcitrant Witness Problem
The defendants in the Enron conspiracy trial, Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling,and Richard Causey, received less than the dismissal they sought from U.S. District Judge Sim Lake at a hearing on Sept. 8 for alleged witness intimidation by the Enron Task Force. Instead, Judge Lake accepted the Task Force’s recommendation and will write a letter to…
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Response to Katrina Fraud
In contrast to the government response in handling the Katrina disaster, the preparations in place for handling the Katrina frauds are extensive. Attorney General Gonzales in a press release here describes the Hurricane Katrina Fraud Task Force that has been established with Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division as its chair.…
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Center for the Study of Economic Crimes
For government press releases related to fraud, from both the state federal authorities, check out the Center for Economic Crimes, Fraud Update (here). It is sponsored by Florida State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, along with St. Thomas University School of Law. (esp)(w/ thanks to Alfredo Garcia for alerting us to this site).
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Tax & Environmental Prosecutions
Either September so far has been an unusually high month for tax and environmental prosecutions, or the DOJ has decided to specifically report these prosecutions this month. For tax offenses, the DOJ this month has the following press releases: #469: 09-09-05 SELF-PROCLAIMED “TAX LAW SPECIALIST” IN OHIO IS SENTENCED TO 70 MONTHS IN PRISON #465:…
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Boeing Nears a Deferred Prosecution Agreement
Taking advantage of the Department of Justice’s new-found fondness for deferred prosecution agreements for corporations, Boeing Co. is reportedly close to settling two government investigations that will require the company to pay upwards of $500 million and, if form holds, appoint an outside monitor and agree to certain restrictions on its operations. The government has…
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Spitzer Prepares to Move Against Former Insurance Executives for Bid-Rigging
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s initial investigation that roiled the insurance industry last year may be reaching fruition amid a report that a number of former executives of Marsh Inc. have been told they will be indicted on bid-rigging and criminal enterprise charges if they do not reach a plea agreement in the next…
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When Does an Outsider Assume an Insider’s Fiduciary Duty for Insider Trading Liability?
The SEC announced the settlement of securities fraud action involving sales before disclosure of negative news about a company that presents an interesting issue on the scope of insider trading liability. In SEC v. Johnson, David Johnson learned of a negative analyst report about PMA Capital Corp., and spoke with the chairman of the company’s…
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