Kickbacks

Salvatore Zangari, a former stock loan trader at Morgan Stanley & Co, Inc., and Bank of America Securities, LLC, has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge arising out of a cash kickback and bribery scheme. 

New York District Court Judge Sandra Townes recently issued an interesting decision on an issue in an alleged “garden-variety kickback” scheme that caught our attention. According to the charging instruments, Ilya and Rachel Krikheli personally, or through intermediaries, arranged for patients to be referred to a radiological testing facility in exchange for payments to the referring doctors and the Krikhelis.

The 2009 Guidelines Manual from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, updated as of November 1, is now available online. It covers everything, but we recommend that anyone considering engaging in Financial Fraud carefully look at the section on “Basic Economic Offenses” – it deals with theft, embezzlement, receipt of stolen property, property destruction, and offenses “involving fraud or deceit” (beginning on page 80).

We went to law school a little while ago, but the memory of those three years at Harvard is burned into our mind. It was a great experience, but it also was incredibly hard work. All lawyers probably feel the same way.  Given that, why would some who have “made it” jeopardize everything? We certainly can ask Marc Dreier. And, according to charges filed today by the SEC, we also can ask Arthur J.

The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Countrywide Financial Corp. in a case alleging that it orchestrated a nearly $900 million reinsurance kickback scheme that potentially affected hundreds of thousands of borrowers in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”).

AGCO Corporation, a manufacturer and supplier of agricultural equipment headquartered in Duluth, Ga., agreed today to pay $18.3 million to settle charges that it violated the books and records and internal controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”).