One of the central ideas of our criminal justice system is the promise of a speedy trial. Felony cases in the Bronx have seen the longest delays in New York City. Seven in 10 cases have surpassed the state’s guidelines, which require that most felony crimes be tried within 180 days. Cases are piling up […]
READ MOREInsurance Fraud Scandal in New York’s Russian Foreign Ministry
For the past six months, New York prosecutors and the FBI have collected evidence concerning health insurance fraud, perpetrated by Russian diplomats. They are now confident that they have enough evidence to mount a solid case. According to Prosecutor Preet Bharara, the diplomats falsified income statements and other information regarding marital status and nationality to […]
READ MOREUST Complaint Against Countrywide
The US Trustee filed a complaint against Countrywide on February 28, 2008 alleging various abusive and improper conduct in a particular chapter 13 case in Atlanta. The complaint alleges that Countrywide filed two motions for relief that it ultimately withdrew because the debtor was not in fact late, it added unsubstantiated charges to its claim, […]
READ MOREInside Traders Beware: Sentencing Commission Pushing for Much Harsher Penalties
In the wake of recent Wall Street scandals and the growing perception of corruption within the financial industry, the federal government is taking dead aim at insider trading. Within the last few years, we have seen the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act and a series of highly publicized insider trading prosecutions, including the one resulting […]
READ MOREArrests Rise, Prisons Empty?
The biggest observation over the last few years is that the crime rate in New York City has fallen. Unbelievably, the New York Post reports that aggressive policing can also lower prison population. This certainly does not seem obvious, but studies have shown that New York State’s prison population has fallen and yet we’ve all […]
READ MORELA Times on the SSDP Lawsuit
The LA Times ran a rather frustrating editorial this weekend on the ACLU and Students for Sensible Drug Policy’s lawsuit challenging the denial of federal financial aid to individuals with drug convictions. The last three graphs, in particular, left me scratching my head The ACLU is going down the wrong path with a lawsuit against […]
READ MOREFollow-up on 911 calls as “non-testimonial”
I spoke to Louis Turchirelli, who was the lawyer on Pitts v. State, which I wrote a post on recently. I asked him if he was going to take the case up on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He advised me that there was a similar case pending already. I went to the Supreme Court […]
READ MOREPhoto of trained child with gun prompts police visit to N.J. home
Facebook Image Prompts NJ Raid by Cops and Child Services Take an overreaching child and family services agency add in an overly aggressive police department, and you have the ingredients for a disaster. When Shawn Moore took a photo of his 11-year old son holding his birthday present, a .22 caliber tactical rifle, he never […]
READ MORENE Georgia Men Accused Ricin Plot Convicted
We had previously cited the trial of Samuel Crump and Ray Adams in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Gainesville on charges relating to a plot to attack government facilities and officials with the toxin ricin. As reported in the Gwinnett Daily Post and elsewhere, on Friday Crump and Adams were convicted […]
READ MORELimits on Fiduciary Duties: Wherefore Art Thou?
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, recently decided a fraud case holding that a person may commit federal fraud and face imprisonment for breaching a broadly-defined fiduciary duty to a contractual business partner. This holding arises under the “honest services” fraud statute, presuming the breaching party also has a specific intent to […]
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