News that Fits

The Washington Post:  Head of the Department of Justice Public Integrity Unit Will Leave Position.

Press Releases

USAO-MD:  DEA Contractor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Accessing Government Database.

USAO-EDVA:  Jamaican Labor Broker Convicted.

Main Justice:  US Army Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Bribery and Money Laundering.

Press Releases

Main Justice:  Maryland Scientist, Stewart David Nozette, Charged with Attempted Espionage.

USAO-MD:  Charity operator pleads guilty in a scheme involving prescription drugs that had been donated to assist the poor in developing countries.

USAO-MD: Pikesville jewelry store owner sentenced to over 3 years in prison for money laundering.

USAO-MD:  General manager and financial controller of Silver Spring Country Club sentenced for stealing over $1.3 million from club accounts.

USAO-MD:  Upper Marlboro man sentenced to over 3 years in prison in scheme to sell fraudulently issued Maryland Drivers Licenses.

News that Fits

WBAL:  Problems Uncovered in Steve McNair Police Investigation.

Blog of the Legal Times:  Kevin Ring’s Retrial Date Set. 

News that Fits

New York Times:  The NYTimes has this interesting article on a federal statute involving the “theft of honest services” and the Supreme Court’s intention to define exactly what that phrase means.

Press Releases

USAO-MD:  Former Baltimore Company Controller Sentenced to over 4 years in prison for stealing over $1 million.

USAO-MD:  Contractor pleads guilty to health care fraud scheme.

USAO-MD:  Maryland cardiologist convicted of evading more than $16 million in income taxes.

USAO-MD: President and Vice-President of Financial Services Firms sentenced in Metropolitan Money Store Mortgage Fraud Scheme.

USAO-MD: Used Car Dealer Sentenced for Failure to File Taxes.

USAO-EDVA:  Norfolk woman sentenced for staging auto accidents.  (If they are both single, maybe she should meet the used car dealer above).

USAO-EDVA:  OKlahoma Man indicted in Kickback Scheme in connection with Government Contract in Afghanistan.

USAO-EDVA: Richmond Virginia woman indicted for embezzling almost a million dollars from Virginia Birth Injury Fund.

USAO-EDVA: Virginia husband and wife sentenced in multi-million dollar fraud scheme.

USAO-DC:  Three California Family Members Indicted in Connection with Sales of Counterfeit High Tech Parts to the US Military.

Main Justice: Detroit Clinic Owner, Doctor and Office Manager Indicted in Medicare Infusion Fraud Scheme.

DOJ News

DOJ Spokesman Denies Departmental “Blog Squad.”   In his “Water Cooler” column for the Washington Times (10/9), Kerry Picket writes, “Various conservative blogs are talking about the existence of a ‘blog squad’ at the U.S. Justice Department. The website, the Muffled Oar writes that a blogging unit formed within the Department of Justice to counter websites with posts, articles, and user comments critical of the Obama administration. Matthew Miller Director of Public Affair at the Justice Department told the Washington Times,: ‘There is no “blog squad”. There is Tracy [Russo] who handles online media. It’s the policy of the office of public affairs to not post anonymous comments. We have not seen any evidence that anyone does post comments, and if we did have evidence of that, people would no longer work here.’ Mr. Miller countered accusations of the existence of a ‘blog squad’ pointing to what he says is lack of evidence.”

DoJ News

The Justice Blog:  AAG Lanny Breuer Testifies on Human Rights Violators.  Better than Lanny’s testimony (which was quite good) is the photo of Paul Tiao (AUSA in the District of Maryland) who appears to be wondering if he can make it out of the hearing without anyone noticing.

An Appeal to Remember

Newsweek:  George Will writes about the Supreme Court, the Obama Administration, and the First Amendment in this essay entitled “Cruelty in the Court.”

The Blog of the Legal Times:  Suit alleging wiretaps, surveillance heard—again in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

Military Justice in the News

US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces:  This tragic case (involving a gondola in Italy plummeting to the ground) made headlines around the world back in 1998, when 20 civilian passengers were killed. Later, a Marine pled guilty to two specifications of conduct unbecoming an officer, and the appellate court has now ruled on the appeal.

Trial Watch

National Journal’s Under the Influence:  Kevin Ring awaits a jury verdict in a case highlighted in this article, while prosecutors and defense attorneys check their email and improve their brickbreaker scores (or so we’re guessing).

News that Fits

Dealbook:  Wall Street on Trial.  This article outlines the government’s criminal case against two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers.

News that Fits

Wall Street Journal Blog:  They say anyone can indict a ham sandwich.  The fraud and money laundering case against a kosher plant in Iowa is sort of the opposite of that, no?

Ticklethewire.com:  Non-criminal illegal immigrants to be housed in converted kosher plants hotels, not jails.

The Maryland Daily Record:  Court of Appeals dismisses Rand case, no reprimand yet for lawyer incivility.

Investigative Voice:  Veteran Baltimore City police officer suspended for raising voice at meeting.

The (Raleigh) News and Observer:  Criminal Defense Attorney Gaskins guilty of money structuring.

The Los Angeles Times:  Global stance against organized crime is urged at Interpol conference.

And finally, from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers:

Below is a list of particularly relevant white collar related news articles and blog postings (in reverse chronological order).  Each of the stories are posted to the NACDL White Collar Crime Website News Feed, www.nacdl.org/whitecollar, and you can access the text of each by clicking the hyperlinked listing below:

• High Court Debates Value of Attorney-Client Privilege, The National Law Journal, October 6, 2009
• Court Rejects CFO Immunity From Broadcom Testimony, The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2009 [Includes link to the 9^th Circuit Opinion]
• The End of Phony Deterrence? ‘SEC v. Bank of America, The New York Law Journal, September 17, 2009
• Attempt by Omission, Michael T. Cahill, September 2009
• Should the SEC Spin Off The Enforcement Division?, Peter J. Henning, September 2009
• Proposal Seeks More Oversight of Justice Department’s Pre-Trial Diversion Agreements, Shana-Tara Regon, September 2009
• Debacle: How the Supreme Court Has Mangled American Sentencing Law and How It Might Yet Be Mended, Frank O. Bowman, Forthcoming 2010

An Appeal to Remember

The Washington Post:  The Supreme Court will hear appeal of Enron’s Skilling.

News that Fits

With increased scrutiny of pharmaceutical sales in the civil and criminal arenas, this article, published in Pharmaceutical Executive this past week, makes it clear that pharmaceutical sales leaders need to take steps to prevent future compliance violations.

Rumor Has It

From the Volokh Conspiracy, we have these Top 10 Reasons President Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize:

10. Consolation prize for losing the Olympics;

9.  Who gives a rat’s you-know-what about Afghanistan, anyway;

8.  The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology were already taken;

7.  “We couldn’t give an ‘un-prize’ to George W. Bush, and this was the next best thing”;

6.  For extraordinary diplomacy at the Gates-Crowley “Beer Summit”;

5.  “Obama?  I thought we were giving it to Osama“;

4.  The Norwegians wanted to honor one of their own, and the committee discovered that Obama was born in Oslo, Norway, the son of a Volvo factory worker;

3.  Norway needed to stimulate its prize industry, and Obama was willing to trade in an older, less efficient prize;

2.  He was the 10th caller;

And the Number One Reason Obama Won the Nobel Peace Prize:

1.  Bill Clinton’s write-in votes for himself didn’t count.

Trial Watch

The  Kevin Ring jury has decided one count, but remains deadlocked on the remaining counts.

Federal Criminal Law

Here’s an excellent outline on developments in the federal law of search and seizure.

Federal Criminal Law

Here is a comprehensive article on “Departures and Variances,” by David Hemingway and Janet Hinton of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in St. Louis, MO.

Press Releases

USAO-EDVA:  Virginia Man Sentenced to 240 Months for Mortgage Fraud.

Main Justice:  Maryland Tax Preparer Sentenced to 70 Months in Prison for Preparing False Tax Returns for Clients.

Military Justice in the News

AP:  Abu Ghraib Soldier Faces Appeals Hearing.

Trial Watch

The Blog of the Legal Times:  Kevin Ring jurors remain deadlocked.

Trial Watch

The Blog of the Legal Times:   Kevin Ring could be retried.

Press Releases

USAO-MD:  Straw purchaser in Mortgage Fraud Scheme Sentenced to 2 years in prison.

USAO-MD:  Maryland woman pleads guilty to mailing threatening letters.

Main Justice:  Former GSA Chief of Staff David Safavian Sentenced for Obstruction of Justice and Making False Statements.

Main Justice:  Federal Court Rules that Virginia Violated Voting Rights of Military and Overseas Citizens.

SEC:  SEC Charges Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Raj Rajaratnam With Insider Trading.