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Ét Tu, MBIA?
The widening investigation of the use of reinsurance to manipulate the balance sheets of insurers is starting to envelop MBIA Inc., one of the largest insurers of municipal bonds. MBIA disclosed last week that it received a demand for additional documents pursuant to subpoenas issued late last year by the SEC and N.Y. Attorney General
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Lawyer Discipline Statistics
Check Ben Cowgill’s Legal Ethics Blog (here) for links to the ABA’s Survey on Lawyer Discipline and his discussions on the topic, which are always worthwhile.
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Abrupt End to Philadelphia Corruption Trial as Defense Calls No Witnesses Amid Claimed Brady Violations
The corruption prosecution of former Philadelphia City Treasurer Corey Kemp, two Commerce Bank executives, and two other defendants ended suddenly on Monday when each defendant rested without calling any witnesses. Defense counsel argued that the government failed to turn over exculpatory (Brady) reports in a timely fashion, a point one prosecutor conceded. Amazingly, Assistant
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Hail the Returning Felon
Steve Madden, the shoe guru, will be getting out of federal prison soon after serving a 3+ year sentence for securities fraud. His company, Steve Madden Ltd., which is publicly traded, has started running ads welcoming his return in a manner that has brought to mind the rousing welcome Martha Stewart received upon her release
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Prosecutors Seek Quick Trial of Ken Lay on Bank Fraud Charges
When the grand jury indicted Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Richard Causey last year in connection with the collapse of Enron, it also included separate charges against Lay for bank fraud and making false statements to banks related to personal lines of credit he obtained from the banks (indictment here). In February, U.S. District Judge
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Media Views of Attorneys in WorldCom Cases
Bruce Carton has an interesting post on the Securities Litigation Watch blog (here) about the different media views of attorneys in litigation related to WorldCom. Jay Kasner of Skadden Arps was counsel to J.P. Morgan, and has been criticized for his advice to the client in settling the WorldCom securities fraud civil class action case
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Is This a Federal Crime?
A recent Sixth Circuit decision in United States v. Madden (here) discusses a federal prosecution for vote-buying, in violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1973(c)(i) (here). The defendant paid three people to vote for a candidate in a local primary election, and in that same election there were candidates for federal office on the ballot. The
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The Battle Looming Over AIG
It’s not exactly like Sauron and the Orcs are approaching, but the fight between American International Group Inc.’s new management and former CEO Maurice Greenberg is starting to get a little bit ugly. AIG posted a letter on its website (here) the contains the following discussion about the removal of documents from a Bermuda location
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A Reasonable Sentence Under Booker
The Seventh Circuit issued a decision in United States v. George (here) that discusses, in an off-handed way, whether a sentence is "reasonable" under the Booker standard if it is below the Guidelines range. George was a former member of the Wisconsin state legislature who pled guilty to conspiracy involving the receipt of kickbacks. He
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Oops, Those Internal Controls Aren’t What They Should Be
One of the requirements imposed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is that companies must certify that their internal accounting controls are sufficient to identify and prevent improper recording of revenue, expenses, etc. Section 404 of the Act requires the company to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of its internal controls, and the CEO/CFO certification requirement
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