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Martha Stewart-The Legal Side
With the upcoming release of Martha Stewart from prison, the press is writing of her experiences and future. The Wall Street Journal provides a view of her life in prison here, AP here, and there have been many a story on her upcoming TV show. (see e.g. here). Also see our post here. But I…
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Closing Arguments in Ebbers Trial
The defense rested its case in the Bernie Ebbers trial and the prosecution then proceeded into closing argument. Did he or did he not have knowledge of what was happening? Was this all Scott Sullivan, or was Ebbers a major player in the alleged criminal activity? These appear to be the key issues that will…
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Health Care Fraud Indictment + Money Laundering
The government is proceeding with another health care fraud case. This time it is the USA in Florida announcing the filing of charges. And as with so many white collar charges being brought recently, the latest prosecution tacks on charges of money laundering. Using 18 U.S.C. section 1347, a relatively new health care fraud statute,…
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Ebbers on the Hot Seat
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Anders continued the cross-examination of Bernie Ebbers by focusing on the loans Ebbers took — which WorldCom guaranteed — on his WorldCom stock, and the pain from the margin calls as the price of shares dropped. The government has argued that Ebbers pressured former CFO Scott Sullivan to engage in accounting…
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Meanwhile, Down in Birmingham . . .
The testimony of Bernie Ebbers has stolen some of the spotlight away from the trial of Richard Scrushy in Birmingham, Alabama, which continues with the testimony of a third former CFO, Michael Martin, about Scrushy’s involvement in the accounting fraud. Faced with the drumbeat of witnesses that the government hopes will link Scrushy to the…
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Titan Corp. Settles FCPA Criminal and Civil Claims
Titan Corporation, whose merger with Lockheed Martin Corp. was scuttled in 2004 in part due to questionable foreign payments, agreed to enter a settlement with the SEC and plead guilty to one count of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to more than $3.5 million of payments made to the President of Benin’s business…
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Alleged Internet Fraud
If this case goes to trial, it is unlikely that the defense will be looking for dog lovers for the jury. In Atlanta an individual has been arrested for his alleged use of the internet to get pet owners, who lost their dogs, to send money for a pet carrier so he could send their…
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Executive Settles Insider Trading Charges Related to Exercising Stock Options
The temptation to exercise your stock options and sell the shares when you know that your company is about to announce negative news proved too strong for John D. Hutchinson, an executive with Ryland Group, Inc. The SEC filed a complaint in federal court in Los Angeles charging Hutchinson with insider trading related to the…
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Should Lawyers Be Disciplined for Being Greedy?
Carolyn Elefant on the My Shingle blog has an interesting post (here) releated to a story about a lawyer disciplined for misleading other lawyers into joining her firm with promises of high salaries and luxury cars. The lawyer, Cynthia Sutherin, was a former public defender who told the attorneys that she had $5.2 million to…
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“I Know What I Don’t Know”
As promised this past Friday, Bernie Ebbers was called to the witness stand on Monday to present his variant on the "honest-but-ignorant CEO" defense, asserting that he knew little about technology and apparently even less about accounting. Ebbers testified that his grades in college were not very good, and that at WorldCom he was the…
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