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Third Circuit Rejects Commerce Clause Challenge to Hobbs Act Convictions
The Third Circuit issued an opinion in United States v. Urban (here) upholding the convictions of a number of former Philadelphia plumbing inspectors who were convicted of violating the Hobbs Act and RICO related to small cash payments (generally from $5 to $20) they received from plumbers to expedite inspections on construction jobs — "grease"…
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DC Circuit Denies Rehearing En Banc in Tobacco RICO Cases
The DC Circuit refused the government’s petition for a rehearing en banc of the panel’s decision on Feb. 4 that threw out the government’s request that the tobacco company defendants be ordered to disgorge $280 billion in profits from their alleged RICO enterprise. An excellent post on the SCOTUS Blog has a thorough review of…
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Seventh Circuit’s View on Obstruction of Justice Enhancement After Booker
The Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in United States v. Miller (here) that deals, in a footnote, with the question whether a judge can impose the Obstruction of Justice enhancement based on the defendant’s perjury at trial without a specific jury finding on that issue. The defendant denied in his testimony that he knew the…
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The Scrushy Defense Begins
The government rested its case against Richard Scrushy yesterday, with the judge granting the government’s request to drop two charges (earlier post here). One mail fraud charge alleged the wrong recipient, and for one money laundering charge involving Scrushy’s purchase of four Persian rugs the seller had destroyed the paperwork — one wonders how the…
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KPMG Settles SEC Securities Fraud Action Related to Xerox Audit
Big Four accounting firm KPMG settled the SEC civil fraud action related to its auditing work on behalf of Xerox Corp. in the late 1990s by agreeing to the entry of a cease-and-desist order, the payment of a civil penalty of $10 million, and to disgorge its fees from the Xerox engagement of $9.8 million…
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Supreme Court Issues Opinion in Dura Pharmaceuticals on Pleading Loss Causation
The Supreme Court issued its opinion yesterday in Dura Pharmaceuticals v. Broudo, unanimously reversing the Ninth Circuit and requiring something more than notice pleading on the issue of loss causation — no great surprise there. An excellent post on The 10b-5 Daily (Lyle Roberts of Wilson Sonsini) thoroughly discusses the case. We white collar types…
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Lawyer Sentenced to 170 Months in Prison for Defrauding Clients
Nikolai Tehin, an attorney in San Francisco for over 30 years, was convicted last October of six counts of mail fraud and nine counts of money laundering for stealing settlement funds his law firm, Tehin + Partners, received on behalf of clients (indictment here). He has received a sentence of 170 months, a very substantial…
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SEC Sues Former Accounting Firm Employee and Three Tippees for Insider Trading
The SEC sued Alina Welt, a former benefits analyst with two accounting firms for insider trading based on tips she gave to her husband, Andrew, about companies that were involved in merger activity. Andrew traded on the material nonpublic information and also tipped his brother, Bruce, and a friend, Bruce Hirschhorn. The defendants made over…
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Scrushy Charges Dropping?
But minutes ago, a post here described the court’s elimination of three perjury counts against Richard Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth. But even more is happening today as the government is now requesting that the court drop two mail fraud counts against the accused. (See AP story here in Wall Street Jrl). If granted it…
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Scrushy – It May Be A Flip Flop, but it Sure is Forceful!
Amazing, is the best way to describe what is occurring in the Scrushy trial. First the judge dismisses the 3 perjury counts, then reinstates them after a notice of appeal by the government and says they will be dismissed at the appropriate time. The Order is below. Some thoughts on all this: 1. The judge’s…
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