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Government Ratchets Up Charges Against Former Georgia School Superintendent
As discussed in an earlier post (here), former Georgia School Superintendent and 2002 gubernatorial candidate Linda Schrenko was charged in a federal indictment with corruption charges involving the misappropriation of over $600,000 in federal education funds that were used for her campaign and also for cosmetic surgery. Her top deputy entered a plea agreement on
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Bogus Christmas Show Targeting Students Results in Mail Fraud Conviction
A press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (Miami) discussed a conviction on Feb. 7 of David Ellisor for running a scam on local elementary school students who purchased tickets to a program at the Coconut Grove Convention Center called "Christmas From Around the World." The press release
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Elan Settles False Statement Case with SEC
The Irish drug company Elan Corporation, plc, settled SEC civil charges that it made materially false statements regarding its operations in 2000 and 2001. The three primary disclosure violations involved statements about income and gains that failed to note their non-recurring nature, the failure to disclose that $490 million of transactions involved round-trip payments for
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Preacher Found Guilty of Defrauding Churches
A federal district court jury in Rome, Ga., found former preacher Abraham Kennard guilty of 122 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion for running a ponzi scheme that defrauded primarily poor churches with largely African-American congregations in 41 states. Kennard charged the churches a $3,000 fee to join his company, promising forgivable
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W.R. Grace & Co. and Seven Executives Indicted on Environmental and Obstruction Charges
W.R. Grace & Co., an industrial company currently in bankruptcy, and seven of its current and former executives were indicted by a federal grand jury in Montana for violating the Clear Air Act related to a now-closed mine in Libby, Montana, that emitted asbestos into the air (indictment here). The company and Alan Stringer, the
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CFOs on the Witness Stand in HealthSouth & WorldCom Trials
The HealthSouth and WorldCom trials continue along their parallel paths as former WorldCom CFO Scott Sullivan took the witness stand on Monday, Feb. 7, to begin what promises to be a long engagement testifying against Bernie Ebbers. On his first day of testimony, Sullivan — the government’s star witness because he is the principle link
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Government Files Civil and Criminal Market Manipulation Charges
The SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California (Los Angeles) announced on Feb. 7 the filing of criminal and civil charges against Courtney D. Smith, an investment advisor who wrote the well-known market newsletter Wall Street Winners (company website here). According to the Litigation Release issued by the SEC, Smith
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Courts Scatter Over Plain Error After Booker
As discussed extensively by Doug Berman on the Sentencing Law & Policy blog (here and here), the question regarding how closely the "plain error" review will be undertaken by appellate courts in light of Booker is still very much up for grabs. Doug discusses the division in the Sixth Circuit between cases that find plain
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Riggs National Bank Acquisition by PNC Financial Scuttled
As discussed in earlier posts (here and here), the acquisition of Riggs National Bank by PNC Financial was delayed by the federal investigation of possible money laundering violations by Riggs, including the bank’s failure to monitor transactions by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Riggs ultimately settled the criminal case by agreeing to plead guilty to
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Botox Users Beware!
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (Miami) announced the indictment of three doctors and four corporations on mail/wire fraud, drug labeling, and conspiracy charges related to the sale of unapproved Botox to doctors for use in facial enhancement programs for their patients. According to the press release: [T]he defendants purchased 3,081
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