White Collar Crime

Earlier this week, a senior elected official in New York pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and cried in court. And cried. And cried.

What does a “mastermind” of a $100 million mortgage fraud do for an encore? Well, in one case, he is accused of seeking to have a key witness murdered! 

New York Times columnist Joe Nocera has a provocative piece today about the Wells Fargo subprime mortgage settlement (for $85 million), and his belief that the federal government does not “prosecute financial wrongdoers.” We see plenty of big settlements announced and a lot of money going into federal and state coffers – should there be more individuals going to jail?

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a sentence of 309 years' imprisonment for Robert Thompson, also known as John Lawson, of Zachary, Louisiana. Chief U.S. District Judge Ralph E.

Brent R. Baker, a litigator experienced in corporate internal investigations, white collar defense and federal securities regulation and enforcement, is joining Ballard Spahr’s Salt Lake City office as a partner in the Litigation Department and a member of the Corporate and Government Investigations and White Collar Defense Group. 

Geoffrey R. Kaiser has joined the law firm of Anderson Kill & Olick as a shareholder in the New York office. In addition to helping design and implement brand protection and anti-counterfeiting programs for corporations, Kaiser will be a member of the firm’s Corporate and Commercial Litigation Group, focusing on business fraud, internal investigations, white collar crime and the False Claims Act. 

The Buffalo-area law firm Phillips Lytle LLP is demonstratin

Wondering what white collar criminal defense lawyers are likely to be busy with this year? Peter D. Hardy, a former U.S. prosecutor and now a principal in the white collar defense, compliance and risk management practice group of the Post & Schell PC law firm, has some thoughts. In his view, the U.S. government's intensive tax and money laundering enforcement drive will continue in 2011, with authorities still sharply focused on offshore assets.

Assistant Attorney General Lanny A.

Rita Glavin, former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner in the law firm’s New York office, where she will lead and build the firm’s New York white collar practice.