A Malibu man has pleaded guilty to failing to report more than $1 million he transferred to a Swiss bank account.

John McCarthy formally pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of failing to file a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts report. He faces up to five years in prison and fines totaling $250,000 when he is sentenced on Jan. 28.

McCarthy was the first person to be named publicly after the Swiss and U.S. governments reached a deal in August to settle American demands for the identities of suspected tax dodgers. The Internal Revenue Service is seeking more than 52,000 names from UBS AG, but both governments wouldn't say how many names will be revealed.

Prosecutors say McCarthy funneled the money to a UBS account with the help of a Swiss lawyer and bank officials.

The bankrupt Catholic Diocese of Wilmington began its court fight Wednesday with

victims claiming sexual abuse by its priests over the value of its estate and how much will be available for claims.

Attorneys for most of the 142 victims indicated they may seek to expand the bankruptcy to include parishes that operate in the Delaware-based diocese but were not part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Sunday.

The attorneys for the diocese pledged an open process that they said would be the quickest way to resolve the claims that stem from alleged abuse beginning as far back as 1954.

The diocese became the seventh in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection, and its filing put on hold the scheduled start of eight civil trials relating to a defrocked priest.

Attorney James Patton, representing the diocese, opened the hearing by acknowledging the abuse by priests.

A federal judicial panel has rejected California's plan for reducing the state's prison population because it failed to meet the terms of an earlier court order.

In August, the panel ordered California to reduce its inmate population by roughly 27 percent, or 40,000, over two years. The courts have found that prison overcrowding is the main cause of negligent medical and mental health care.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration subsequently submitted a plan calling for a reduction of 23,000 inmates.

On Wednesday, the judges gave the administration 21 days to submit a new plan. If it's inadequate, the court said it will develop its own.

In a statement, the administration said it objects to what it sees as an arbitrary inmate cap but will respond to the court on Nov. 12.

Law firm Carlton Fields P.A. has filed suit against Atlanta rapper Ludacris. reports the Courthouse News Service.

Luda is being sued for non-payment of legal fees for services rendered between March 2008 and April 2009.

The firm represented Ludacris and his Ludacris Foundation in a 2007 personal injuries and negligence complaint. Now, it claims that the rapper ows $61,860.20 in upaid legal fees - in addition to court costs.

Carlton Fields claims it also advanced the defendants in the previous case, Lawrence A. Hyde v. Roberta J. Shields, Christopher B. Bridges and Ludacris Foundation, out-of-pocket expenses.

Three once-powerful members of Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in San Diego.

Jorge Aureliano Felix admitted Wednesday to working with members of the Tijuana-based cartel to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds back to Mexico.

The U.S. Attorney's office says Armando Martinez Duarte pleaded guilty Friday. Efrain Perez pleaded guilty Monday.

The defendants were arrested in Mexico between 2002 and 2004 and extradited in late 2008. A 2003 federal indictment calls them "second-level managers" of the cartel.

Last week, Jesus "Chuy" Labra, pleaded guilty in the same case. He was a top cartel leader until his arrest in 2000.

A 45-year-old District man has pleaded guilty to threatening the life of a federal prosecutor, according to court records and trial testimony.

Darryl Tipps and a co-defendant, Wayne W. Pannell, 47, were charged with threatening the life of Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Sines and threatening to kidnap her son. A jury convicted Pannell of all charges Oct. 7. Tipps pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors and testified against Pannell at his trial early this month, according to court records.

During his testimony, Tipps disclosed he had pleaded guilty to threatening to injure or kidnap a person and to obstructing justice in the case, according to lawyers and others who attended the trial.

Further details about Tipps's plea deal could not be learned because the agreement and supporting documents are sealed. Court papers filed by Pannell's defense lawyer disclosed the secret agreement but did not specify the charges. Pannell is scheduled to be sentenced in January. It is not known whether a sentencing date for Tipps has been set. At the time of Pannell's conviction, the status of Tipps's case was not clear.

With another round of state budget cuts looming, Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, warned yesterday that financial troubles are clogging the courts, pulling probate officers from Boston schools, and decimating the ranks of court-appointed guardians.

Problems could range from long delays for hearings to get protective orders in family court to less court oversight of troubled youth to routine business taking months rather than weeks as courthouses are forced to eliminate workers.

“In my judgment, justice is in jeopardy in Massachusetts,’’ she said at her annual address to the legal community in downtown Boston. “These are strong words, and I use them with care.’’

For the first time in Marshall’s decade as chief justice, she focused her talk on a single topic and struck an unusually foreboding and political tone.