white collar crime

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He Runs a Support Group for White-Collar Criminals

The 'New Yorker' takes a look

(Newser) - It's safe to say that for most of his life, Jeffrey D. Grant didn't know what "macks" were. That would be a reference to foil packages of smoked mackerel, which functioned as a kind of currency in a federal prison in Pennsylvania, where Grant spent 14 months....

DA Who Inspired a Law & Order Character Dies
DA Who Inspired
Law & Order 
Character Dies
OBITUARY

DA Who Inspired a Law & Order Character Dies

Longtime Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau dies at age 99

(Newser) - He drew a guilty plea from "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers, helped put John Lennon's killer behind bars, and even inspired Law & Order character Adam Schiff. Now, Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney feared by white-collar criminals in New York City for 35 years, has died at the...

Report: Feds to Nab 2 Ex-JPMorgan Employees

Authorities suspect they hid size of $6B trading loss

(Newser) - A published report says federal authorities plan to arrest two former JPMorgan Chase & Co. employees on suspicion that they tried to conceal the size of the investment bank's $6 billion trading loss last year. The New York Times reported today that the arrests of Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien...

To Boost Economy, Russia Frees Jailed Entrepreneurs

110K 'economic criminals' are currently in prison

(Newser) - Faced with economic malaise, Russia needs some entrepreneurs, and it knows just where to find them: in prison. Putin administration official Boris Titov has made it his mission to scour the prison camp system once known as the gulag for businessmen that could be granted amnesty. He's got no...

Supreme Court Sides With Skilling, Black

Limits 'honest services' prosecutions for white collar crimes

(Newser) - The Supreme Court ruled today that prosecutors erred in using a federal fraud law to convict former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, but left it to a lower court to determine whether his conviction should be overturned. The justices were unanimous in imposing limits on the use of the federal...

Supreme Court to Hear Enron CEO's Appeal

Jeff Skilling challenges 'honest services' law, says trial was unfair

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has agreed to hear former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s appeal of his fraud conviction in connection with the company's collapse. The appeal argues that the federal “honest services” statute, a favorite for prosecutors tackling white collar criminals, is flawed because the government needn’t prove...

Madoff Arrives at Posh Prison
 Madoff Arrives at Posh Prison 

Madoff Arrives at Posh Prison

(Newser) - Bernie Madoff has reached his destination for the next 150 years or so. Clad in a blue jumpsuit, the fraudulent financier arrived at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina just before noon today, ABC News reports. But the 71-year-old can take heart, because he “hit the inmate lottery,...

Madoff Kin Seek Advice on Life Behind Bars

Bernie's relatives look into former inmate's 'Fedtime 101' course

(Newser) - Two of Bernie Madoff’s family members have contacted a consultant who teaches a class on life in the slammer, the New York Post reports. Madoff’s niece, a compliance officer at his firm, is “concerned about her safety,” a source told the Post. Shana called a former...

Illegal Immigrant Cases Hog Justice's Resources

Once-federal cases get bounced to state, local officials

(Newser) - A federal focus on prosecuting immigration crimes is killing resources to deal with a wide variety of other cases—meaning those cases go to state and local authorities, often overwhelming them, the New York Times reports. Immigration cases have soared in the past 5 years, while federal prosecution of drugs...

Madoff Shakes NY Real Estate Industry

Scandal jeopardizes dozens of projects; loans may be called in

(Newser) - New York's once booming real estate industry has already been struggling with the recession, but the revelation of Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme has hit commercial brokers and developers particularly hard. Deals across the city have been put in jeopardy, buyers have withdrawn pledges to purchase, and Madoff investments...

Web Unravels Around Lawyer Held in Fraud

Allegedly duped victims of millions in tale of deception, bravado

(Newser) - A bizarre case is unfolding around Marc Dreier, the Yale- and Harvard-educated Manhattan attorney arrested Sunday for his alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme to sell hundreds of millions in forged, phony debt. Investigators contend his scams were nothing more than brazen confidence games in which he leveraged his position,...

High-Profile Arts Patron Guilty of 12 Fraud Counts

Alberto Vilar cheated investors to pay debts, fund opera companies

(Newser) - Alberto Vilar, the investment banker and one of the world's most generous opera patrons, was convicted yesterday on 12 counts of fraud, Bloomberg reports. Vilar told investors that he was putting their money in safe, government-backed assets; in fact, he bought risky tech stocks on margin, which quickly tanked. Vilar...

Feds Charge Brokers in $1B Subprime Fraud

Credit Suisse pair told clients debt backed by student loans, not risky mortgages: SEC

(Newser) - Federal regulators today charged two Wall Street brokers with defrauding their customers by making more than $1 billion in unauthorized purchases of securities tied to subprime mortgages. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges the Credit Suisse Securities employees led corporate customers to believe that securities being purchased in their accounts...

Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail
Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail
UPDATED

Israel to Proceed Directly to Jail

Fugitive banker loses $500K bail, could get 10 years tacked on 20-year sentence

(Newser) - A federal judge in New York ordered white-collar fugitive Samuel Israel to start serving his 20-year fraud sentence immediately, the Wall Street Journal reports, and ruled that his $500,000 bail be forfeited. "My hope is it will be applied to the resources taxpayers incurred to find Mr. Israel,...

Hedge Fund Fraud Missing; Suicide Possible

Car on NY bridge belonged to exec due yesterday in prison

(Newser) - Police aren't ruling out suicide as a New York hedge-fund manager due to begin serving a 20-year prison term yesterday remains missing, the Wall Street Journal reports. Police found Samuel Israel's car parked near a bridge over the Hudson, with “Suicide is painless” written in dust on the hood.

Hedge Fund Fraud Gets 20 Years

Samuel Israel denied leniency in $400M investor 'ponzi scheme'

(Newser) - The founder of defunct hedge fund Bayou Group was given a 20-year prison term today for bilking investors out of more than $400 million, Bloomberg reports. Samuel Israel must also pay $300 million in restitution for masterminding a “ponzi scheme” in which investment returns were paid with new investors’...

Spitzer Hires Hotshot Lawyer
Spitzer Hires Hotshot Lawyer

Spitzer Hires Hotshot Lawyer

Beleaguered gov turns to former top deputy, corruption hunter

(Newser) - Eliot Spitzer needs a lawyer, and luckily, the ex-AG knows a few. Client 9 has put his fate in the hands of Michele Hirshman, his top deputy from his days as New York State's top lawyer. Now a partner at a top-tier New York firm, Hirshman also spent 11 years...

SEC Looks Into Countrywide Stock Sales

CEO of nation's largest mortgage lender dumped $130M in stock before crisis hit

(Newser) - The CEO of troubled mortgage lender Countrywide is under investigation over stock sales, the Wall Street Journal reports. Angelo Mozilo sold at least $130 million this year of stock in a company deeply affected by the subprime mortgage mess; the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into several aspects of...

Justice Switched Focus to Sex, Terror & Immigrants

Feds back off from mob and white collar crime

(Newser) - As the Senate Judiciary Committee today considers the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, data shows a profound shift in focus by the Justice Department over the 7 years of the Bush administration. The prosecution of mobsters, white collar criminals, environmental crimes and civil rights violations have taken a...

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