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Former CEO guilty in 'Ponzi' scheme
Corporate Governance |
2011/08/18 09:21
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The former CEO of an Austin-based investment firm was found guilty on Wednesday on federal charges that he schemed and defrauded investors out of millions of dollars.
Triton Financial CEO Kurt Branham Barton was named in a 39-count indictment alleging he used former NFL stars and church contacts to raise $50 million fraudulently from investors.
The counts against Kurt Branham Barton included money laundering, wire fraud and securities fraud. He is accused of using the money raised from investors "to support an expanding Ponzi scheme" and to enrich himself and the chief financial officer of his Triton Financial firm.
“It is regrettable that selfish, greedy individuals devise schemes to make themselves rich by victimizing honest and innocent people, often depriving the victims of their life savings," U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy said. "These con artists are usually very accomplished salesmen taking advantage of trusting investors, who unfortunately will never be made whole again."
Evidence presented during the eight-day trial showed that from December 2005 and December 2009, Barton devised a scheme to obtain money from investors under false pretenses.
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NY court rejects $18M class action writers deal
Court Watch |
2011/08/17 09:21
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A federal appeals court in New York has rejected an $18 million class action settlement reached after freelance writers sued publishers.
The writers had said their copyrights were infringed upon when their works were reprinted online without permission.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Wednesday the 2005 deal had to be scrapped because the plaintiffs didn't adequately represent all members of the class. It says more than 99 percent of claims wouldn't be covered by the settlement because they involved writers who hadn't registered copyrights.
The settlement was reached after the Supreme Court in 2001 ruled freelance writers have online rights to their work. The case largely applied to articles, photographs and illustrations produced 15 or more years ago.
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NY man suing Facebook must explain missing items
Court Watch |
2011/08/16 09:21
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A judge gave Facebook access to the personal email accounts of a man suing for half ownership of the social networking website and ordered him to explain why he can't produce documents its lawyers believe are evidence.
Proof that Paul Ceglia's case is a fraud has been sitting on a Chicago law firm's email server since 2004, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder told the federal judge on Wednesday.
An email that Ceglia sent to a former business associate at the firm includes a scanned version of the two-page contract he and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg signed, Snyder said. Unlike the one Ceglia filed, it doesn't mention Facebook, only a street-mapping database Ceglia had hired Zuckerberg to work on, he said.
"The noose is tightening around the neck of this plaintiff, and he knows it," Snyder said during a four-hour procedural hearing that had each side accusing the other of dirty tricks.
Snyder said Ceglia had artificially aged his "phony" contract with light and chemicals, backdated computer files and transferred others to portable storage devices, which he'd likely tossed into Lake Erie.
Ceglia's attorney, Jeffrey Lake, countered that Facebook had tried to "poison the jury pool" by releasing what should have been confidential documents and implied Facebook had planted damning evidence on Ceglia's computers, a statement he backed away from after the hearing.
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Court dismisses part of NM whistleblower case
Court Watch |
2011/08/15 09:22
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Attorney General Gary King and a state agency can take charge of legal efforts to recover money for New Mexico for some investment deals allegedly influenced by political considerations, a state court ruled Wednesday.
District Judge Stephen Pfeffer also dismissed portions of a whistleblower's lawsuit involving allegations of a pay-to-play scheme in investment deals by the State Investment Council, which oversees permanent funds worth more than $15 billion. The judge's ruling allows the council and the attorney general to handle those legal claims.
The lawsuit by Frank Foy, a former chief investment officer of the state's educational pension fund, will continue on other allegations, including that the state lost money on bad investments by the Educational Retirement Board and some by the council and that politics influenced some of the pension's fund investments.
The Investment Council filed a lawsuit in May claiming that its former top manager and a financial advisory firm improperly steered New Mexico investments to political supporters of former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson. More than a dozen other defendants were named, including third-party placement agents who earned millions of dollars in fees on investment deals.
Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland has said the allegations are "absurd" and he was not involved in any wrongdoing.
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2 plead not guilty in SF Giants fan attack
Court Watch |
2011/08/12 10:31
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Two men accused of brutally beating a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium pleaded not guilty Wednesday even though prosecutors said they had made admissions in the case.
Louie Sanchez, 28, and Marvin Norwood, 30, entered their pleas during a brief arraignment to charges of mayhem and assault and battery in the March 31 attack of Bryan Stow, a Santa Cruz paramedic who suffered severe brain injuries and remains hospitalized.
Prosecutor Frank Santoro said in court he did not object to a motion to allow television cameras in the courtroom because the case is built on admissions, not witness identifications.
“The case is based on admissions from both of them,” said Santoro, who provided no further details.
He said 20 witnesses had been asked to look at the men, but only one could positively identify Sanchez and no one recognized Norwood.
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Law school graduates sue alma mater over job stats
Breaking Legal News |
2011/08/12 10:31
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Four graduates of Thomas M. Cooley Law School have sued their alma mater, claiming the school misrepresented its post-graduation employment statistics to attract students.
The Lansing State Journal and the Detroit Free Press report the lawsuit was filed Wednesday. The suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan by New York law firm Kurzon Strauss seeks class-action status and $250 million in damages.
James Thelen, Cooley's associate dean for legal affairs and general counsel, says the school stands by its post-graduation employment and salary statistics. He says any claims that students or graduates have been misled or legally harmed are "baseless."
The Lansing-based school earlier sued the law firm, claiming it was defaming the school in online ads seeking potential plaintiffs who attended Cooley.
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$168 million securities fraud settlement proposed
Class Action |
2011/08/12 10:30
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The New York State Common Retirement Fund has announced a proposed $168 million settlement of its securities fraud class-action lawsuit against National City Corp. alleging misrepresentations to investors.
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, trustee of the $146.5 billion fund and lead plaintiff, says the defendants agreed to the settlement but admitted no wrongdoing.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which bought Cleveland-based National City in 2008, declined to comment.
The suit alleges National City misrepresented the quality of its mortgages and home equity loans and the severity of its losses.
The settlement is expected to go before U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. in the Northern District of Ohio for preliminary approval in the next few weeks, with all class members notified after that.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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